Plant · P-474

Amur Grape

Vitis amurensis

Amur Grape is a cold-hardy climbing vine, native to the woodlands of Russia, China, Korea and Japan, that survives temperatures down to about -40 C - far beyond what common wine grape can take. Its small, harsh, usually bitter berries suit juice, wine and drying rather than eating fresh, and the young leaves and tendrils are eaten too, boiled as a vegetable or wrapped around food for flavour. Its biggest value may be as a breeding parent - several cold-tolerant grape rootstocks were bred from it - and trained over an arbor it casts dense summer shade while its dormant prunings give a useful pile of chop-and-drop material.