Vitis vinifera Aperina Nera - Seedless Grape vine

This 'Aperina Nera' vine is part of a series of descendants of the Sultanine grape (also known as Thompson Seedless), a variety known as "seedless", grown on a large scale for the production of raisins. They all have the common characteristic of producing apyrene grapes, whose seeds are atrophied. Very pleasant to taste, they will delight children! This Nera variety is similar to 'Alphonse Lavallée' in terms of flavor and productivity. The plant produces large clusters of black fruits with juicy, crunchy, and sweet pulp. Harvest takes place, depending on the region, the year, and the climate, from mid-September to the first week of October. This moderately vigorous vine is resistant to cold.

The Vitis vinifera 'Aperina Nera' belongs, like all vines, to the Vitaceae family. Its first parent, the Sultanine grape, is itself a very ancient hybrid, possibly originating from Afghanistan, which belongs to the category of white table grape varieties. The Sultanine is a vigorous plant that needs to be pruned long in late winter because its first buds do not produce flowers. Its apyrene descendants have retained this characteristic.

The 'Aperina Nera' vine is a woody climbing shrub, whose serpentine stems equipped with tendrils can reach a length of 3 to 4m (10 to 13ft) over time. It forms a trunk, often knotty and twisted, covered with a fibrous and brown bark that flakes off in strips as it ages. Its long green stems bear beautiful round-shaped leaves, serrated on the edges, of medium green color, 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, pyramid-shaped, loaded with tiny green flowers. After pollination by insects, the berries we call grapes are formed. They are slightly irregular and slightly oval in shape. Under their thick, bluish-black skin covered with bloom, the pulp is tender green, almost devoid of true seeds. This variety is pruned long in late winter, after the frost, above 6 to 8 buds to promote the formation of new shoots that will flower.

Contrary to popular belief, seedless grapes are not genetically modified organisms but are the result of a complex selection process carried out by vine specialists. They are fruits borne by sterile hybrid plants, whose seeds, or pips, are unable to develop: reduced to their simplest expression, these seeds are barely detectable in the mouth.

Planted in the sun, the Aperina Nera vine will be very decorative along a wall, on a arbor, a pergola, in the ground or in a large pot on a terrace. The grapes can be consumed as they are, in juice, or used to garnish tarts.