Prevar have recently licensed the rights to grow, market and sell the SMITTEN® brand PremA17 apple in the UK to Worldwide Fruit Limited and Empire World Trade Limited.
Worldwide Fruit Technical Director Tony Harding, believes that “this apple has a superb eating quality, with very good storage potential for an early season apple.  Its harvest window will be attractive to growers and we have already seen in the UK Morrison’s having good success with selling New Zealand grown product.  The variety has been under trial in the UK for three years now and year after year the fruit has scored very highly during new variety benchmarking sessions.  We expect strong interest from growers and retailers alike for this variety and plan to develop the planting programme in line with the interest and potential sales opportunity”
Robert Jarvis, Development Technologist for Empire World Trade commented ” SMITTEN® brand apple has performed very well as an early variety in the Empire World Trade Research and Development orchard. It is unusual for an early maturing variety as it has excellent texture and flavour which is retained throughout storage and shelf life. SMITTEN® is a variety which appears at this stage to crop well under UK conditions and is expected to result in a high level of consumer satisfaction leading to repeat purchase."
Prevar is delighted to be working with two high profile organisations in the UK and considers the collaborative approach of EWT and WFL on the variety to be the best way of exploiting the full potential of the variety in the UK market.  “By working with both organisations we have provided a platform to exploit SMITTEN® across the entire UK retailer and grower base.  Both organisations have extremely strong links to UK growers and they dominate the domestic production and sales in the UK industry” according to Prevar CEO, Brett Ennis. Tony Harding goes onto say, “We believe that collaboration on new varieties and research priorities has been long overdue in the UK topfruit industry and we are very pleased to have developed a unique relationship with EWT on the development of SMITTEN® brand PremA17.
The SMITTEN® brand PremA17 apple was bred by the world- renowned fruit-science company Plant & Food Research who are contracted by Prevar to breed new varieties of both apples and pears. This apple originated from a breeding cross of a ‘Falstaff’ X ‘Fiesta sibling’ and ‘Braeburn’ X ‘Royal Gala’ made in 1995. Quarantine, testing, tree propagation and intellectual management services are provided to Prevar under contract by the Associated International Group of Nurseries.
The PremA17 apple has a fruit size similar to “Royal Gala” with a  predominant red striped blush over a green/yellow background, a sweet tangy sub-acid flavour with a full apple aroma and with very firm and juicy flesh. Typical harvest pressures are >10kgf. The apple stores very well in either cold air or controlled atmosphere, retaining its crunch plus flavour and aroma during storage and has an exceptionally long ambient shelf life. Some change in the sugar/acid balance occurs upon cold storage after several weeks with soluble solids typically 14% to 15% after storage. The apple tree is grower friendly with a robust upright, vigorous habit with good productivity and no biennial tendencies. Predominantly spur and terminal tree buds occur.
Dr Ennis confirms that the apple SMITTEN® brand positioning is “the irresistible apple” with a brand character that is lively, youthful, sophisticated, and fashionable. The SMITTEN® logo and its slap phrase “once bitten forever smitten” and the stylised pink-coloured kisses in the middle of the trade mark logo all perfectly capture the essence of the brand story. It’s a love story…perhaps a not so perfect looking apple that surprises and delights by providing an amazing eating experience such that consumers will instantly become smitten and seek it out again and again. Distinctive packaging has been chosen to reflect the premium positioning this apple cultivar commands.
Prevar has now secured five licenses for this apple including three licenses in the Northern Hemisphere; this will help create counter-seasonal demand and critical mass for this apple plus increase brand awareness in key Australasian export markets. A brand management licensing approach will be used with new variety product consistency and marketing discipline achieved through licensed use of the SMITTEN® brand.
Further Contact
Brett Ennis
Chief Executive
Prevar Limited
Tel. +64 6 8770380
Mob. +64 (0)21 388334
Email: bme@prevar.co.nz