Grapes crop

Grapes are the world’s largest fruit crop with approximately 60 million tons produced each year. Worldwide estimates are that approximately 8 million hectares are currently planted to grapevine.

Almost all this fruit is from one species – Vitis vinifera L. This species grows best in a Mediterranean type of climate with long, relatively dry summers and mild winters.

Botanically, the grapevine is a liana, a climbing tree. In the wild, the grapevine starts as an understorey plant growing rapidly and upward clinging to other plants to eventually reach the top of their canopies.

Vitis vinifera probably originated somewhere in the Middle East between India and the Mediterranean Sea. Grapes were undoubtedly first used as table fruit that is consumed directly from the wine.

The majority of the fruit is processed into wine, but significant portions of the worldwide crop are destined for fresh consumption, dried into raisins, processed into non-alcoholic juice and distilled into spirits.

Several factors influence grapevine growth and ripening capacity for a particular grape: heat accumulation, length of the growing season, number and distribution of sunshine hours, rainfall amount and pattern, diurnal temperature range, evapotranspiration and humidity.
Grapes crop