Parminder Brar is not your average San Joaquin Valley grape producer. An aerospace engineer by training, but a fruit grower at heart, Parminder owns and cultivates 500 acres of table grapes near Visalia, CA. With the San Joaquin Valley grape season underway, Parminder plans to pack 400,000 to 450,000 boxes of grapes in 2004. A portion of these will be sold in the Oppenheimer box.

Comprised of three ranches, P and R Brar Farms produces Flames, Thompsons, Crimson Seedless, Red Globes, Fantasy, Christmas Rose and Autumn Royals. Parminder works closely with Pacific International Marketing (PIM), of Salinas, CA, as he markets his grapes. Oppenheimer has been affiliated with PIM for two years."

Parminder was born on a farm, and worked in the grape industry while attending UCLA in the 1970s. After earning undergraduate and advanced degrees in engineering, Parminder now shares his time between his aerospace career and growing grapes.

"It was just in my blood, I guess," he said. "I've been growing for 25 years, concentrating on table grapes for the last decade. Before that, we also grew wine grapes and raisins."

Parminder decided to specialize in table grapes for several reasons, but was particularly attracted to the promise of success that each new grape season brings.

"You get a new start each year," he said. "There is no carry-over, like you have with raisins. If you've had a good year or a bad year, with table grapes, once it's done, it's done. And then you get a fresh start the next season."

Parminder enjoys a very "hands on" approach to grape growing. While he employs 12 full-time staff members, and at peak times has as many as five 60-person crews at work, Parminder is most often found out in the fields or in the cold storage facilities, making sure everything is running smoothly.

"Growing grapes well is very labor intensive," he said. "At every step of the process, from pruning to thinning to picking and packing, people need to work to a high standard. Everyone may not have the same definition of 'quality' - it can be subjective -- so it's important that we communicate our expectations, so the fruit in each box is equally good."

Despite the challenges, Parminder finds growing grapes very worthwhile.

"At the end of the day, it's gratifying to see a nicely-packed box filled with grapes that people will enjoy. We take pride in the quality that we grow. And it means a lot to us for our fruit to be requested by marketers year after year."

Away from the ranch, Parminder enjoys spending time with his wife of 28 years, Rani, and their grown sons and daughter. In his leisure time, he likes to travel to "quiet places," especially Alaska and Canada where fishing adventures can be found.