SOME Victorian table-grape growers appear to be chasing early season high prices with immature fruit.
The Weekly Times understands 10kg boxes of table grapes from Mildura were available at the Melbourne markets last week for as little as $8 each.
This is 80 per cent less than the best grapes, which were fetching up to $40 a box.
Some growers in the Sunraysia began picking early varieties last month, trying to get a head start at a time when there is often a shortfall in supply.
But Sunraysia Table Grape Growers Association president Greg Milner fears the sour grapes have affected the reputation of all fruit from Mildura, which buyers are bypassing in favour of the sweet late-season grapes from NSW that are still available.
"Unfortunately the Sunraysia growers don't appear to be taking much notice of what the market's doing," he said.
"Some people are still sending fruit that's immature and not worthy of the market.
"I might send fruit that's OK, but because it comes from Mildura, they don't have the confidence in it.
"The only way they can sell my fruit is on price. It hurts the returns we're getting."
However, Australian Table Grape Association president Nick Muraca said he had visited the market twice in the past fortnight and found no more immature fruit than usual.
Mr Muraca said many people wrongly assumed all cheaper grapes were green or sour.
The only problem with Mildura grapes this year was a quality issue - berry size and evenness - rather than lack of maturity or sweetness.
"I saw two or three consignments of fruit that I thought would be a little too early to have been harvested," he said.
"(But) 90 per cent of them were very sweet and edible. The problem this year is the quality is not as good compared to the northern fruit, which looks magnificent."
Mr Muraca said agents and wholesalers used the excuse of immature fruit in the market for offering lower prices, but they could choose not to handle or sell it.
"They're in control," he said.
Mr Milner, who grows six varieties of table grapes at Irymple, started harvest last week - once he was sure his menindee seedless and flame seedless had reached suitable maturity levels.
Using a refractometer to measure sugar levels, he waits until the grapes average about 18 brix.
Pickers start in the most advanced sections of the block and will work their way through the two varieties over the next three weeks, with the harvest likely to finish in late-April.
Mr Milner said the crop appeared to be smaller than last year, as a result of dramatic swings in temperature and an unseasonal November heatwave.
"The crops are reduced in size, but it varies across properties and varieties," he said.
"I was talking to another grower who picked 50,000 boxes last year and he reckons he'll be lucky to get 20,000 this year."
Mr Milner said the vines had reacted badly to the heat stress, producing uneven bunches.
It takes extra time - and money - to trim small berries from affected bunches.
"A lot of people are just picking it and hoping to get some return, hence some of the low prices," he said.
