Grape ID

I've been spending a few minutes checking out new XP desktop themes and came a cross a nice grape version that I'm thinking about putting on the home computer (put it on the office once and the clients will think 'Aha - must be a drunken sot!')

Any of you growers able to identify the varietal in this one?

http://www.fantom-xp.com/wp_42__Grapes.html

If I remember I will look at this again when I am at home and can compare more directly but it does resemble one of the Sangiovese clones that I planted. I think it is the BBS-1 clone. The two sangio clones that I planted have very different leaf shapes and this no way resembles the other.

If I remember I will look at this again when I am at home and can compare more directly but it does resemble one of the Sangiovese clones that I planted. I think it is the BBS-1 clone. The two sangio clones that I planted have very different leaf shapes and this no way resembles the other.

Wow! even more specific than I'd hoped for. I knew there might be some closet ampellographers out there!!

If this picture of Sangiovese is correct, the leaf shape and cluster shape are much different: Sangiovese.
It almost looks more like Chambourcin: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty/reisch/Varietyphotos/chambourcin1.jpg

If this picture of Sangiovese is correct, the leaf shape and cluster shape are much different: Sangiovese.
It almost looks more like Chambourcin: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/hort/faculty/reisch/Varietyphotos/chambourcin1.jpg

I have two clones of Sangio and they could not look more different. The BBS-1 (original Biondi Santi clone) has a leaf like in the original picture that Bill posted and the bunches are more elongated. The VCR-6 clone has a leaf that resembles the picture in the link you posted but I don't recall the bunches having two wings. The picture you posted does not resemble either of the sangio clones that I have planted. However, the first harvest was last year and I had some issues with fruit set so it was light and possible not representative. Both of my clones are suppose to be grosso clones.

It looks close but I am not 100% sure. The leaves on my sangio are not quite as rounded as the one in the picture. The bunches look correct. Honestly the leaf shape is not a direct match for anything I am growing and the sangio still looks the closest to me. In addition to Sangio I am growing: Aglianico, Barbera, Syrah, Tannat, Mourvedre, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

In addition to Sangio I am growing: Aglianico, Barbera, Syrah, Tannat, Mourvedre, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Cabernet Franc, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

Crikey, Brian, just what are you cooking up there?? Could be interesting!

Its just a test vineyard. There was little viticultural history in my region when I started so not much of an idea what would work best. Most of the wine grapes that were bearing when I started were hybrids so this vineyard is to try to identify what will give me the best chance of making decent wine. I will probably give it another 3-5 years and then I hope to have enough info to start grafting over to the best performers.

I also have been working on the wife for some time now that I have room for a smaller test vineyard for whites. Last night she told our neighbor of my plan so I may be making progress. If so, it won't be as big and probably only contain four different grapes.

it won't be as big and probably only contain four different grapes.

Where are you located and which grapes would you choose? By the eclectic array of reds, one might posit Arufiat, Furmint, Grechetto and Picpoul.....

I am in Southern Maryland which is the bit of land that is south of DC and between the Potomac and the Bay. Hot and humid conditions and therefore mildew and rot are the biggest concerns followed quickly by low acid grapes. Therefore would definetly be looking toward Petit Manseng which I wanted to plant as the only white in the original vineyard but there was not commercial stock available at that time hence the reason I have two clones of Sangiovese. After that I am not sure. In just the past few years the options for small growers has increased significantly and now there are grapes available that I never researched.

Looks to me as if a few pretty leaves, possibly not even ofthe same variety, have been arranged behind a couple of bunches of grapes. Or even photoshopped in - is it just me, but don't those leaves look very big for the size of the grapes?

... is it just me, but don't those leaves look very big for the size of the grapes?

Actually no. I have leaves bigger than that on a lot of my vines. Like internode length, leaf size does not have a direct connection to the size of the bunch. If I remember correctly, there is a relationship between vine vigor and leaf size.

Bill. Looks like Riesling to me, from Piemonte would be my guess.

Bill. Looks like Riesling to me, from Piemonte would be my guess.

Get outa here! They don't make any good Riesling in Piemonte do they? (Private joke).

What about the red colour of the canes? Makes me think hybrid or non-vinifera.

Peter, I have looked at this picture a number of times and I am not sure what to think about the canes. If you look closely you can see small segments of what look to be canes that could be brown along with the obvioulsy red tinted one. Its hard to tell if the other canes are brown or just shadowed. It was not the red tint that I thought was odd but the fact that it appears to not be lignified. One would expect that lignified canes by the times the bunches show that color. My guess is that it is a late developing lateral shoot. I think I have seen red tint on shoots in the past but can't swear to which vines, which shoots, and when during the season. Not saying that it could not be a hybrid just that the red did not ring any bells for me.

More I look the more I think Steve has a point and that it is a composite photo.

I could certainly see the photographer going out into a vineyard and thinking that a single leaf with colour would add something, and maybe grabbing it off a nearby row of something else to plant on his subject, and maybe the yellowing leaf above it.

Are you thinking that they might have gone the other way and taken a bunch of grapes and posed it on top of another plant's leaves?

The red leaf is highly suspect. It is rare to see a single leaf like that on a plant. It could be a nutrient deficiency and they would normally be positioned lower on the vine as they would be the oldest leaves. The newer leaves would not show the same level of deficiency and generally still show green. However, the distribution of the color across the leaf is too uniform and does not appear to be driven by any of the nutrient issues that I have experienced. It looks like a fall changing of the colors which could happen anywhere on the vine but then I would expect more of the vine to be in a state of color change. Yellow leaves are more common, can be single leaves, and are not always easy to explain.