Grape Season

Menindee White peaks in January and is available from late November to early February. Developed at the Mildura Horticultural Research Station and named after the Menindee Lakes region, it was the dominant white table grape on Australian markets for decades. Large, oval, pale golden-green berries with seeds and thin skin (one of the few seeded varieties still widely grown for fresh eating) with a mild, sweet flavour. It's often the first Australian grape on shelves in summer, per Hort Innovation.

Flame Seedless peaks December to January and drops off quickly. By February most red seedless on the shelf is other varieties. A US-bred hybrid of Thompson Seedless, Cardinal and several other Vitis vinifera cultivars, it's one of the most widely grown table grapes worldwide, per Wikipedia. Medium-large, bright red, seedless berries with a sweet flavour and good shelf life. Its long growing season suits the Sunraysia and Riverina districts well.

Black table grapes cover a range of cultivars grouped under the "Black" category in Australian production data. Available late December through February, deep purple-black skin, typically seedless and sweet, grown across the major Murray-Darling Basin districts. Look for firm, deeply coloured berries with a slight natural bloom (a dusty skin is a good sign, not a bad one), per Hort Innovation.

Midnight Beauty is a proprietary seedless black grape variety bred in California and grown commercially in the Sunraysia and Riverina districts, available late December through January. Elongated, deep black-purple berries with crisp texture and notably sweet flavour. Volumes are smaller than major red and white varieties so it tends to appear at premium grocers and farmers markets rather than supermarkets, per Hort Innovation.

Crimson Seedless peaks February to March and is available from January through to May in some years, one of Australia's most important export varieties, bred at the USDA research station in Fresno as a late-season alternative to Flame Seedless. Medium-sized, deep crimson-red, seedless berries with firm flesh and a mildly sweet flavour. Its late season and good shelf life make it the variety to look for when other summer fruit has peaked, per Hort Innovation.

Red Globe peaks February to April, one of the later and wider-season table grape varieties. Very large, round, deep-red berries with seeds and firm flesh, per Wikipedia. Grown mainly in warm, long-season regions including Australia's Murray-Darling Basin and exported across Asia where the large berry size is valued. Easy to spot on the shelf. Nothing else looks quite that big.

Thompson Seedless (also known as Sultana) has the longest season of the common table grape varieties, peaking February to April with availability from January to May. Small to medium, oval, pale yellow-green seedless berries with a neutral-sweet flavour. Not the most exciting fresh grape, but very consistent. It's been the backbone of the Sunraysia industry for over a century. Grown for fresh eating, dried into sultanas and used in juice, most Australian sultana production comes from Thompson Seedless vines around Mildura and Robinvale, per DAFF/ABARES.