With a slow but strategic start, Chilean table grape producer RIOblanco kicked off the 2025 season, prioritizing fruit quality over market pressure, as explained to FreshFruitPortal.com by Christopher Dixon, the company’s Quality Manager.
"December is a very slow-starting month. The strong volume only begins in late December and early January," he said.
RIOblanco currently has nearly 3,500 productive acres, most of which (70 percent) are located in the Valparaíso Region, in the Aconcagua valley. The rest (25 percent) is concentrated in Copiapó, Vicuña, and Ovalle in Northern Chile, while the remaining 5 percent can be found in the south of the country.
Regarding fruit quality, Dixon said the initial samples are positive, with good sugar levels, competitive sizes, and a favorable overall condition.
For the quality manager, the campaign's focus is clear: increasing size, especially in green varieties, where international competition, particularly from Peru, has raised the bar.
"At RIOblanco, we aim for ideal sizes of 22 mm or more for green grapes and over 20 mm for red and black grapes. It's not about changing from one year to the next—it's a long-term job,” he said. “Today, we are already getting much closer to the sizes the market demands."
Varietal renewal is another pillar of the season. Dixon said that over 86 percent of RIOblanco’s production corresponds to new or licensed varieties, such as Sweet Celebration, Cotton Candy, and Sweet Globe. Traditional varieties like Thompson, Superior, Flame, and Crimson, on the other hand, are largely out of the program.
However, Dixon is emphatic that product quality alone is not enough to achieve market success: "You can have an excellent product, but if the logistics fail, the client's final evaluation will not be good."
To overcome this challenge, RIOblanco is prioritizing fruit care, including packaging, box resistance, proper cooling, temperature maintenance, and transport efficiency.
The United States remains the main destination market and the first recipient of RIOblanco’s table grapes. The season's shipments started with the Sweet Celebration variety.
The US is currently offering high prices for quality fruit, but Dixon is cautious about the level of competition that a high-paying market may attract.
"Prices can be attractive, but they are misleading if everyone sends volume to the same market. Oversupply arrives quickly," he said.
For this reason, RIOblanco's strategy aims to gradually diversify its destinations, with a presence in Mexico and Brazil, some European markets, and growing interest in Asia, including China, Korea, and Vietnam.
"Opening markets is not an overnight process. We prefer to go step by step, with reliable clients and controlled volumes," he explained. "The grape is not evaluated here; it is evaluated abroad. Understanding how your product reaches the final customer is key."
*All images courtesy of RIOblanco.
