Vitis Garant - Table grape

The Garant vine (or Garantos) is a table grape which produces clusters of large golden berries ripening from late August to September. Vigorous and easy to manage, this climbing plant quickly covers an arbour or training wire. It yields beautiful, sweet grapes with a slight muscat flavour, to be eaten fresh. Fairly hardy, capable of producing in cool climates, and highly disease-resistant, it is a rewarding variety requiring few plant protection treatments.

Belonging to the Vitaceae family, this table grape is an interspecific hybrid from the Solaris and Muscat Bleu varieties, obtained in 1991 by Norbert Becker at the Staatliches Weinbauinstitut in Freiburg im Breisgau; it is also found under the identifiers FR 515-91 or Freiburg 515-91 and under the synonym "Garantos".
Garant is characterised by better tolerance to two types of fungal diseases (powdery mildew and downy mildew), good cold resistance and a so-called 'mid-season' ripeness. The plant develops climbing stems with tendrils, it shows good vigour and its shoots are capable of lengthening several metres per season; its growth is rapid if the soil is deep and well-drained.
Trained on a pergola or as a cordon, it can spread 2 to 4 m within a few years. At 10 years, the trunk forms a well-established plant with fruit-bearing branches. The discreet flowering consists of small greenish flowers in May-June. They are pollinated by wind, but also by bees.

This variety produces clusters weighing around 300 grams. Each bears large, round to ovate berries, golden yellow when ripe, with a medium-thick skin. Their flesh is sweet, with a distinct muscat aroma. They ripen from late August (in warm regions) to late September; as a guide, around 25–31 August in a Mediterranean climate, early to mid-September or late September in cooler regions. 
The foliage is deciduous, formed of palmate, bright green leaves, turning yellow in autumn before falling. The vine's root system is running and deep; it appreciates free-draining soils; the young plants are frequently grafted onto SO4, a medium-vigour rootstock moderately tolerant of limestone. The hardiness of this Garant variety is estimated between –15 and –18 °C, depending on exposure and wood ripening; the plant shows good resistance to powdery mildew and downy mildew, which limits the need for treatments in a home garden.

In addition to its fruiting characteristics, the Garant Vine is decorative. It can be trained on an arbour, a pergola, or sturdy wires stretched against a wall. To stagger harvests and vary pleasures, pair it with other table grape varieties like Solaris (very early, white), Muscat Bleu (blue, muscat-flavoured) and Regent (blue-black grapes for juice or light wine).
In urban areas, it is possible to grow a vine in a large container on a balcony or terrace, trained in a warm spot and well-pruned.

With the diversity offered within a wide range of vines, it is easy to find the variety that best suits your preferences.