Vitis vinifera L.

Vitis vinifera

Biggest Plant Dictionary | Vitis vinifera L. | It is cultivated on every continent on Earth except for Antarctica. In Europe, in the central and southern regions;

in Asia, in the western regions (Anatolia, Caucasus, Middle east) and in China; in Africa, along the northern Mediterranean coast and in South Africa; in North America, in California, Mexico and also other areas like New Mexico, New York, British Columbia, Ontario and Québec; in South America in Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and Brazil; in Oceania in Australia and New Zealand.

Vitis vinifera L.

Vitis vinifera (Common Grape Vine) is a species of Vitis, native to the Mediterranean region, central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. It is a liana growing to 35 m tall, with flaky bark. The leaves are alternate, palmately lobed, 5–20 cm long and broad. The fruit is a berry, known as a grape; in the wild species it is 6 mm diameter and ripens dark purple to blackish with a pale wax bloom; in cultivated plants it is usually much larger, up to 3 cm long, and can be green, red, or purple. The species typically occurs in humid forests and streamsides.

Vitis vinifera L.

Types of Wine Types
The grapes have many varieties, among others
• Vitis vinifera, grape wine materials for Europe
• Vitis labrusca, the North American grapes to make grape juice,
• Vitis riparia, a wild grape of North America, sometimes to the manufacture of wine
• Vitis rotundifolia, muscadine, used for jelly and sometimes wine
• Vitis aestivalis, the variety Norton is used for the manufacture of wine
• Vitis lincecumii (also called Vitis aestivalis or Vitis lincecumii), Vitis berlandieri (also called Vitis cinerea var. Helleri), Vitis cinerea, Vitis rupestris are used for making wine hybrids and "rootstock" pest-resistant.

Uses
Use of grapes is known to date back to Neolithic times, following the discovery in 1996 of 7,000 year-old wine storage jars in present-day northern Iran. Further evidence shows the Mesopotamians and Ancient Egyptians had vine plantations and winemaking skills. Greek philosophers praised the healing powers of grapes both whole and in the form of wine. Vitis vinifera cultivation and winemaking in China began during the Han Dynasty in the 2nd century with the importation of the species from Ta-Yuan. However, wild vine "mountain grapes" like Vitis thunbergii were being used for wine making before that time