Grape

Grapes can be eaten fresh, but many grapes are used to produce white or red wine.

Important grape producing countries include China, Italy, USA, Spain, France, Turkey, Chile and Argentina. Most wine is produced in Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, USA, Iran, Romania, Portugal, Argentina, Chile and Australia.

Grapes are among the most popular fruits in the world. In 2010 the estimated world production of Grapes was 68,311,466 Metric Tons (source FAOSTAT), which corresponds to about 10 kg per person (in 2010 the world had about 6.9 billion persons).

Names

Scientific
   Vitis vinifera
English
   Common grape vine
   Grape
   Red grape
   White grape
Dutch
   Blauwe druif
   Druif
   Wijnstok
   Witte druif
Spanish
   Parra
   Uva
   Vid
   Videira
French
   Raisin
German
   Weinbeere
   Weinrebe
Italian
   Uva
   Vite comune
   Vite euroasiatica

Taxonomy

Genus
   Vitis
Family
   Vitaceae
Order
   Vitales

Basic information and facts

Origin:

The first domesticated grapes were grown 6,000 to 8,000 years ago in the Near East.

Distribution:

Grapes have now a wide distribution in regions with a suitable climate. Most wine is produced in Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, USA, Iran, Romania, Portugal, Argentina, Chile and Australia.

Evergreen or deciduous:

Grapes grow on deciduous woody vines.

Flowers:

Leaves:

Fruits:

Fruits grow in clusters of 15 to 300. Depending on the variety they can have different colors including crimson, black, dark blue, yellow, green, orange, and pink. Grapes which are called “white grapes” have a green color.

Climate and weather:

Grapes grow in the warmer temperate climates with a lot of sunshine.

Pollination:

Most grape vines are hermaphroditic, having both male stamens and female ovaries. These varieties are able to self-pollinate. Wind and insects generally play only a small role in pollination.

Height:

Blooming period

Type of soil:

Spacing (close range)

10,000 plants per hectare.

Spacing (wide range)

2,500 – 3,000 plants per hectare.

Propagation:

Grapevines are vegetatively propagated by cuttings.

Insect pests:

Some caterpillars feed on grape vines.

Diseases:

Downy mildew can be a serious disease. It is often controlled using Bordeaux mixture, which is a mixture of copper-sulfate and slaked lime.

Fruit development:

Harvesting:

Grapes are harvested by hand (with a cutting tool) or with mechanical grape harvesters. The moment of harvesting depends on the ripeness of the grape, which is measured by sugar, acid and tannin levels.

Uses:

The fruits are used to make wine or they are eaten fresh as a snack or dessert fruit. Other uses include making jam, juice, jelly, grape seed extract, raisins or vinegar.

Proverbs and Quotes

A grape that sees another gets ripe.
Beautiful grapes often make poor wine.
Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles?
Every raisin contains a pip.
Grapes are eaten one by one.
Grapes do not grow in a willow tree.
Grapes picked too early don’t even make good vinegar.
He’s hardly a sour grape, yet behaves like a raisin.
Homes among homes and grapevines among grapevines.
Leaves enough, but few grapes.
Like grape, like bud. Like father, like son.
One who plants grapes by the road side, and one who marries a pretty woman, share the same problem.
Rather a single grape for me than a brace of figs for thee.
Some men will build a wine cellar when they have found just one grape.
The grape is not ripened by the rays of the moon.
The grapes are sour.
The olive grove of your grandfather, the cherry trees of your father, and your grape vines.
The sweetest grapes hang highest.
There is a devil in every berry of grape.
When the fox cannot reach the grapes he says they are not ripe.
The sun, with all those planets revolving around it and dependent on it, can still ripen a bunch of grapes as if it had nothing else in the universe to do. (Galileo)
Except the vine, there is no plant which bears a fruit of as great importance as the olive. (Pliny)

Did you know that?

Wine is usually made from grapes, but can also made from many other fruits such as oranges, bananas, and mango.
Wine made from honey is called mead.
You can make wine at home.

Crop categories

Fruits
Food crops
Temperate crops
Alcoholic drinks

Pictures

Grapes