Vitis Fragola Bianca - Strawberry vine

The 'Fragola Bianca' vine is perhaps better known as the 'Strawberry Grape', due to the unique flavour and aroma of its fruits. This ancient hybrid variety produces clusters of white-pink grapes, with clear, seedless and sweet pulp that reveals a taste of wild strawberries with notes of blackcurrant. Its small grapes can be consumed as they are, or used to make juice or syrup. The harvest takes place, depending on the region, year and climate, from September to October. This vine, which is resistant to diseases and requires little maintenance, promises many gastronomic and aesthetic pleasures. It can be grown in a garden, on a trellis, in a container, or trained against a wall.

'Fragola Bianca' is a hybrid with uncertain origins, believed to have originated from a spontaneous cross-breeding that occurred in the United States during the trials of European grape varieties. It seems that the arrival of phylloxera, which decimated the European vineyards in the late 19th century, can be attributed to this type of hybrid imported to the old continent for winemaking. However, this grape produces more toxic methanol for the body during the fermentation process of the molecules that give 'Fragola' grapes their typical strawberry aroma. Winemaking experiments were abandoned, and Fragola grape varieties almost disappeared from cultivation. But the exceptional aromatic flavour of its fruits allowed these vines to continue to be cultivated for table grape harvests. The first parent of the 'Fragola' vine is undoubtedly the Vitis labrusca, a species native to eastern North America. It passed on its natural resistance to phylloxera, which parasitises the roots of European vines. The grapes of 'Fragola Bianca' also inherited the distinctive flavour of its fruits. Its second parent is an unknown variety of Vitis vinifera, cultivated since ancient times in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa. All these plants belong to the Vitaceae family.

The Vitis 'Fragola Bianca' is a sarmentous and climbing bush, with serpentine stems equipped with tendrils that can exceed 5m (16ft) in length over time. It forms a trunk, often knotty and twisted, covered with a fibrous and reddish-brown bark that flakes off in strips as it ages. Its long green stems bear beautiful round-shaped leaves, with serrated edges, medium green in colour, pubescent on the underside, turning yellow before falling in autumn. It blooms in late spring, from May to June depending on the region, in the form of dense and well-formed clusters, pyramidal to cylindrical in shape, loaded with tiny green flowers. After pollination by insects, the berries we call grapes are formed. Rather small, rounded to slightly oval, the berries have a pale yellow skin that turns amber-pink when ripe. The pulp is translucent yellow-green, seedless, juicy, and sweet, with a surprising aroma of wild strawberries and blackcurrant. This variety is very hardy and easy to grow in any well-drained garden soil, preferably slightly acidic and non-calcareous. It should be pruned in late winter, after frost, above 3 buds to promote the formation of new flowering shoots.

Planted in a sunny spot, the 'Fragola Bianca' vine will be very decorative along a wall, on a pergola, in the ground, or in a large container on a terrace.