According to Gheorghe Gaber, chairman of the national Association of Table Grape Producers and Exporters, meteorological forecasts promise a warm autumn, with almost summer-like atmospheric temperatures through October. This means that supplies of “Moldovan” to commercial networks “directly from the plantations” may last two full months of fall, which will provide Moldovan grapes on foreign markets with a “competitive advantage of freshness”.
In this regard, it should be taken into account that Spain and Italy also grow late varieties of red grapes similar to “Moldova”, but they come on sale earlier. As a result, on the European market in October-November “Moldova from the bush” has few competitors, and even those are “from the refrigerator”.
Currently, the register of the National Office of Grapes and Wine includes about 16 thousand hectares of table grape plantations. According to expert estimates, more than 80% of the area falls on “Moldova” grapes. It is also important that the area of high-intensive vineyards of “Pergola” and “Gable” type in the country is close to 1 thousand ha, of which a significant part is also planted with “Moldova” grape. The plantations of the mentioned types in the conditions of our country are able to give a high yield – 30-50 tons/ha and ensure the yield of high quality products at the level of 80-90%.
All this has both advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, “Moldova” means large export volumes of grapes of one variety, and external supplies during the period of low seasonal supply of goods. It is these factors that have ensured the Republic of Moldova’s status as a major supplier of grapes to the European Union.
On the other hand, experts of the Moldovan grape industry point to the fact that the world trend of consumer preference for table grapes of seedless varieties is irreversible. Accordingly, along with the seeded variety “Moldova” Moldovan winegrowers need seedless varieties, which in the future can become an alternative to “Moldova”. There is no obvious contender for this role, despite the fact that hundreds of grape varieties are grown in the country.
According to Mr. Gheorghe Gaberi, the potential of such varieties as “Kishmish Moldavian”, “Kishmish Radiant”, “Aperin Roz”, etc. is high in terms of production and commercialization. However, for their cultivation on an industrial scale, a local base of virus-free planting material production is needed.
