Grape Plants for Wine

Vitis Vinefera

• Vitis vinefera makes up 90 percent of the world's wine grapes. The plant is a perennial, deciduous climbing vine. The grape colors vary from green, yellow, red or deep purple, almost black. More than 8,000 cultivars of the grape species exists. Each kind of vitis vinefera grows better in a particular climate. The plants are grown for eating-grapes and wine making in southern and central Europe. While the majority of grape plants cannot grow and produce quality grapes in humid climates, the vitis vinefera Gordo Blanco and Fladi species, for example, are rare types that grow in tropical regions.

Champanel

• The champanel grape, Vitis labrusca, is a large, highly productive deciduous grapevine. Wine growers appreciate the plant's high heat and flood tolerance. T.V. Munson, a grape taxonomist, created the hybrid grape plant in the 1970s to make it resistant to a devastating grape plant disease in Texas called Pierce's disease that kept grapes from growing throughout the U.S. southern Gulf coast. For quality, succulent grapes, growers must prune the plant regularly, provide full sunshine, water, and well-drained soil. If gardeners take great care of the plant, Champanel can produce quality grapes for over 50 years. Be wary also of pests such as the berry moth, grape flea beetle, grapevine beetle and invasive Japanese beetles.

Chardonel

• Chardonel is a white wine grape plant that is ripens late in the harvest season, typically around mid-October. The plant is known for its ability to withstand cold temperatures below freezing, making it a "cold hardy" variety, along many other white wine varietals. The Chardonel grape vine is a hybrid plant, introduced in 1990, which combines Seval Blanc and Chardonnay. The plant requires well-drained soils and full sun to produce tasty grapes. In the United States, Chardonel, wine producers in Arkansas, Michigan and Missouri harvest the grapes to make white table wines.

Cabernet Sauvignon

• The cabernet sauvignon grape vine, which grows ideally in warmer climates, produces small, thick, dark red grapes with intense flavor, tannins and berry aromas. In Argentina -- a major producer of the grape -- growers harvest the grapes grapes around late March, according to wine experts at the Argentina Wine Guide. In the U.S., harvest time comes late in the season, around mid-October. The Cabernet Sauvignon grape plant is considered by wine growers and tasters as a "noble" grape, which means it is one the highest-quality wine grapes famous in France's Bordeaux region. The plant is cold-hardy, which means it can withstand colder temperatures, but is not tolerant to freezing.