PRESS RELEASE

Global leaders in fresh produce, Vanguard International has partnered with the SNFL Group and Riverking International for a series of in-person grape tasting events starting January 11 and  concluding January 17, 2023.  

The first tasting event took place at the Guangzhou Jiangnan Market on January 11, in the morning,  including local dragon dancers, opening performance, presentation of the variety, container opening,  tasting and interviews, as well a limited number of gifts for attendees. Chinese retailers, importers, and  wholesalers could discover IvoryTM, just arrived from Peru.  

The event will now travel to the Shanghai CitySuper store for daily tastings on January 15, 16, and  17 at 2:00 pm each day.  

The tasting events will allow consumers to have the first taste of SNFL bred IvoryTM grapes under  Vanguard’s Majestic Jaguar brand. This green grape features a uniform berry with a sweet, clean  finish. Ivory’sTM taste and crunch make it a customer favorite grape.

“These events are a great way to educate our global customers and consumers around the wonderful  tasting profile these grapes offer and to celebrate the limited supply of this season’s IvoryTM crop as  the region gets ready to celebrate Chinese New Year,” shared Dirk Winkelmann, Chief Business  Development Officer of The Vanguard International Group.  

Josep Estiarte, CEO of SNFL explains “China is leading table grape consumption worldwide  representing +46% of the global consumption. Grapes are actually under-represented in the fruit  basket with only 29% of Chinese consumers purchasing grapes. These events are key to raise  awareness about premium, seedless, sweet, and firm varieties such as IvoryTM, a very good choice  for Chinese consumers.” 

SNFL Group is one of the world’s leading table grape R&D companies. For over 20 years they have  been breeding and developing new table grape varieties and licensing their production around the  world. 

“Every year, there are about 10,000 containers of imported grapes entering the Chinese Market. The  demand for traditional varieties has been decreasing, and the new varieties are in much more  demand, especially during the past two years. There have been several new seedless varieties  successfully launched in the Chinese market. Having advantages of stability, early-season timing, and  great taste, IvoryTM has been well recognized by the market, and the last two seasons of trials also  have proven that. I sincerely hope that this promotion will speed up the recognition of IvoryTM with our  customers,” Vice-General Manager Wang Yijian from Riverking Southern China said.  

Remarks by Mr. Ou Hongqing, General Manager of Riverking Southern China, “New grape varieties  like IvoryTM are well received by more and more Chinese consumers. IvoryTM is a variety that is very  crispy and has very good flavor. It has good storage quality, long shelf life, good visual  presentation on the shop floor, and eats exceptionally well. We are very confident about its market  potential in China”.