The Morimoto family are the founders and farmers behind Magical Grapes. Seiji and Chiho have been growing grapes on a small parcel nestled between avocado groves in Ventura County since 2012. They use Japanese cultivation techniques to grow Japanese varietals like the Shinano Smile, Shine Muscat, Black Beet, and Queen Nina. These are really really delicious varietals that have been bred for flavor. We were first exposed to these grapes during a visit to Japan last summer and they turned how we think about the fruit upside down. If you're diligent and lucky, you may be able to find some of these varietals in the United States – but not anything grown like this – and nothing that tastes like this.
With the exception of the Shine Muscat, these are slip-skin grapes, meaning they have a thick skin that easily separates from the flesh. In Japan they're typically eaten skinless, which sounds radical until you try it. A quick pinch of the grape's bottom with the stem-end pressed to your lips does the trick and then it's a burst of GRAPE!
Magical Grapes' primary variety is the Shinano Smile. It's a red grape whose gentle blush belies a remarkably intense flavor. It starts off tasting like an orb of concentrated grape jelly which gives way to this complexity that Seiji likens to wine grapes.
Imagine the difference between a December imported cherry tomato and an August warm-from-the-sun sungold tomato bursting with tropical fruit flavors, sweetness, and acid. Now imagine that the sungold had been dramatically thinned so the plant put all of its energy into half as many fruits, boosting the sugars and intensifying its flavor. A red flame grape is the December tomato. The Magical Grapes fruit is... well we're getting closer, but you might just have to try one.
Nori showing fq around
Nori, farm manager at Magical Grapes, has been meticulously doting on each cluster of grapes for months now. First he trained the vines onto an overhead trellis, allowing the grapes to hang freely below. Next he pruned many would-be delicious bunches off the plant so that the it can dedicate more resources to the few that remain. Then he thinned and shaped the remaining bunches, removing individual immature grapes. This ensures that each bunch produces fewer, but bigger, sweeter, and more flavorful berries. Seriously, there's peer-reviewed science describing this phenomenon! The grapes are then bagged, bunch by bunch, in an air-permeable bag to protect them from pests while they ripen. They're finally crowned with a paper hat to protect them from sunburn. This work is all done by hand, individually, by a crew of one.
This year, an untimely spring chill inhibited pollination, slashing yields. Add in a mischievous squirrel issue, and it's been a tough season for Magical Grapes. We'll only be getting one drop, but we're thrilled we get to share these very special varieties, produced with such care, with this lil' fruit-forward fan club.
