Vitis vinifera 'Brandt' is a lovely vine for a sunny position. It prefers an alkaline to neutral soil that is well drained, fertile and moisture retentive.
The bunches of grapes start the season green, turning black in autumn and, although sweetish, are not good as a table grape but suitable for wine making. It has dazzling autumn colouring going from green to dark crimson, red, orange and yellow.
It will need a framework, trellis or wire support, quickly growing to fill a space 8m x 2.5m. It can be pruned in mid-winter to create a framework and again in mid-summer if required.
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Vitis vinifera 'Brandt' is the perfect plant to give good summer cover with large lobed leaves and grapes and superb autumn colour, suitable for any warm, sunny or lightly shaded wall. It can be kept in check with judicious pruning and so is suitable for small gardens or courtyards.
Alternatively, it is often grown over large pergolas where several plants will provide summer shade and the bunches of grapes can hang down attractively. It associates very happily with other shrubs displaying good autumn colour such as Cotinus coggygria.
Look out for:
Vitis vinifera 'Brandt' is resistant to Phylloxera and will cause very few problems. The foliage and sap are a slight irritant.
Trivia:
Vitis vinifera 'Brandt' was discovered, through DNA research in 2007, that almost all white grape varieties grown today have a single parent produced as the result of two, extremely rare and independent mutations in a red grape variety.