Vitis vinifera Aperina rossa - Seedless Grape vine

This 'Aperina Rosso' vine is another interesting descendant from the Sultanine (also known as Thompson Seedless), a variety known as "seedless", cultivated on a large scale for the production of raisins. They all have the common characteristic of producing apyrene grapes, with atrophied seeds. Very pleasant to taste, they will delight children! This Rosso variety is similar to Cardinal in terms of flavor and berry color. The plant is vigorous, moderately resistant to diseases, and not well suited to cold climates. It produces beautiful clusters of round fruits, medium-sized, with dark red-violet skin, and the flesh is juicy, sweet, and neutral in flavor. The harvest takes place, depending on the region, year, and climate, from mid-September onwards.

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

The 'Aperina Rosso' vine is a sarmentous and climbing bush of great vigor, whose serpentine stems equipped with tendrils can exceed 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet) in length over time. It forms a trunk, often knotty and tortuous, covered with fibrous and brown bark that flakes off in strips as it ages. Its long green stems bear beautiful round-shaped leaves, with serrated edges, of medium green color, turning yellow before falling in autumn. It flowers in late spring, from May to June depending on the region, in the form of dense and well-formed clusters, pyramidal in shape, somewhat irregular, loaded with tiny green flowers. After pollination by insects, the berries, which we call grapes, form. Under their skin, which is red-violet in colour when ripe, quite thick and covered with a white bloom, the flesh is tender green, almost devoid of true seeds. Juicy and sweet, it has a fairly simple, not very pronounced flavor. This variety is pruned long in late winter, after the frost, above 6-8 buds, to promote the formation of new shoots that will flower.

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

Planted in the sun, the Aperina Rosso vine will be very decorative along a wall, on an arbor, a pergola, in the ground or in a large container on a terrace. This variety, both delicious and decorative, will be appreciated for garden ornamentation. Its fruits can be consumed as they are, mixed in fruit salads, as juice, or to garnish pies.