A bunch of grapes “ruby romantic,” grown in Ishikawa Prefecture in Japan, was sold at auction to the owner of a Taiwanese supermarket for a record 1.4 million yen (about 12 thousand dollars), this is higher than last year’s record of 1.3 million yen, the Kyodo news agency reported.
A record number of 253 bunches were put up for sale.
The variety began to be sold since 2008. During the current season, which will last until September, 28 thousand bunches will be sold. Five years ago, the maximum price for a bunch of the “ruby romantic” variety was about 5 thousand dollars.
The breeding of this variety was started in the mid-1990s in Ishikawa Prefecture and took 14 years, a new variety was registered in 2007. It differs from the usual grape varieties by the unusual ruby color of the sweet pulp and the size of the grapes-about 3 centimeters in diameter. The weight of each grape is about 20 grams. Due to the romantic name and deep ruby color, this grape is popular in wedding salons.
