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Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea' (Purpleleaf Grape) - A large deciduous cold hardy vine with 10-to-20-foot stems. In spring the newly emerging palmately lobed leaves are green, blushed with burgundy tones and fuzzy with white hairs. The leaves, which mature to nearly 6 inches long and wide, darken as the summer season progresses to deeper shades or burgundy and purple. In fall the leaves turn more of a deep red color before dropping. Small fragrant greenish-white flowers are produced in spring followed by deep purple edible grapes in the fall that are particularly attractive with the similarly colored foliage.
Plant in full sun to part shade and irrigate occasionally to infrequently once established. Hardy to at least 0° F. Best in an open area with good air circulation to prevent mildew on the leaves. An interesting foliage color form of the common wine or table grape. It is an attractive plant on it own when planted along a wall, trellis, fence or through trees or anything that offers support or mixed in with other vines. The fruit of these grapes is sweet but surrounded by bitter skin.
Vitis vinifera is native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia and the cultivar 'Purpurea' is an old cultivar that was first noted in the second volume of William Jackson Beans's Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles published in 1914, where it is described as "leaves first of a beautiful claret red, deepening later in the season to lurid purple. One of the riches hued of purple shrubs." It was the winner in 1993 of the prestigious the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit and a 2003 Great Plant Pick, a program established for Pacific Northwest gardeners by the Elisabeth C. Miller Botanical Garden in Seattle, Washington.
The name of the genus used by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 came from the Latin name for the grapevine and thought to originated from a Proto-Indo-European language meaning "that which twines or bends". The specific epithet is Latin meaning "wine-bearing". Other common names for this cultivar include Tenturier Grape, Red-Leafed Grape and Purple-leaved Vine. The names with colors are for the leaf colors but Teinturier Grapes are so named for the flesh of the fruit and juice being red in color due to anthocyanin pigments within the pulp of the fruit and not the skin such as is the case of most red wine grape varieties. Our cutting stock from Suncrest Nurseries when they closed their nursery in 2023.
Information displayed on this page about Vitis vinifera 'Purpurea' is based on our research conducted about this plant in our nursery library as well as from information provided by reliable online resources. We also include our own observations made about it as it has grown in the nursery gardens and other gardens visited, as well how the crops of this plant performed in the containers in our nursery field. We will also include comments received from others and welcome hearing from anyone who has information about this plant, particularly if it includes cultural information aiding others to better grow it.
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