Brazilian variety 100% took almost a decade to be developed by Embrapa and has been gaining the taste of producers Tasty, seedless and productive: get to know the BRS-Vitória grape A new variety of grape is being grown more and more in the São Francisco River Valley, in Pernambuco, the BRS-Vitória.
However, it is successful because it has no seeds and is very sweet. Watch all Globo Rural videos This cultivar is the result of crossing 2 genetic materials that are part of the largest collection of vines in all of Latin America, located at the headquarters of Embrapa Grape and Wine, in Bento Gonçalves, Rio Grande do Sul.
improvement in genetics
Since the 1970s, the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation has developed a genetic improvement program for Brazilian grapes, which has already launched 21 varieties for wine, juice and table. The BRS-Vitória left there, it was tested in São Paulo and Paraná lands until it conquered the world from the São Francisco River Valley.
Embrapa agronomists took about 10 years to develop and test this new variety. Rural producer Jackson Lopes, one of the pioneers in the activity, remembers a blind tasting carried out 7 years ago, with 65 types of grape.
“It caught my attention, but she didn't have a feature that drew attention to producers because she had small curls”, he recalls. “But, because it drew attention to flavor preferences, we decided to invest in technical work in order to increase productivity”, says farmer Jackson Lopes. The general head of Embrapa Grape and Wine, José Fernando Protas, with whom the success of the variety left some lessons for future research.
“Not only must the aesthetic aspect be taken into account, but the sensorial aspect, of taste and flavor, must be taken into account when creating a variety”, he says. And one of the items that most pleased the palate of those who bet on the Vitória grape was that it did not have seeds. “The important aspect is that the trace of the Vitória seed is not noticeable when chewing.
Created to be consumed
Therefore, its reproduction takes place by another type, another process, of grafting, and not through seed.” Grafting is the technique that consists of joining a plant with good roots and another that will bear tasty fruits, in this case Vitória.
Farmer Marcelo Alves has partnered with Embrapa to produce seedlings of the variety.
Since then, he has only seen demand for the variety grow, going from 72,000 seedlings in 2015 to 950,000 in 2019.
The very researchers who developed BRS-Vitória are surprised by all this tasty success. “Cultivating is the same when we have children.
when it grows, it has its trajectory, we cannot predict many times”, says Embrapa researcher and agronomist Patrícia Ritschel. 5 crops in 2 years Another advantage of this variety is its rapid development from one season to the next.
This means that the producers in the São Francisco River Valley are able to harvest the tasty Vitória grape every week of the year, but to do so requires drastic pruning, which exposes the vines to the sun.
fruiting speed
It is performed 30 days after the harvest. “For those who don't know, it looks like we killed the plant, but from the moment of pruning until a new harvest, it takes more or less 105 to 112 days”, explains farmer Jackson Lopes. Therefore, the speed of fruiting is also a specific condition of Vitória, which allows it to produce up to 5 harvests in 2 years. Investment by farmers Vale do São Francisco producers have already placed BRS-Vitória on more than 1,500 hectares.
Farmer Gilson Moreira is one of those who were enthusiastic about the market potential of the grape and, therefore. Although it is investing around R$ 80 thousand per hectare in expanding the vineyard.
So far, the Vitória grape plantation on the property occupies an area of 3.5 hectares.
By the end of the year, there will be 7 hectares.
