Grapevine plant named ‘15-97-77’

#Genus and species: Vitis vinifera.

#The new grape plant named ‘15-97-77’ is of Vitis vinifera parentage. It is the result of an effort to produce a late-ripening, black, seedless table grape with fruit characteristics superior to currently available black cultivars ‘Fantasy Seedless’ (unpanteded) and ‘Negrita’ (unpatented). The female parent (unnamed) (unpatented) resulted from a series of crosses involving ‘Hunisa’ (unpatented), ‘Emperor’ (unpatented), and ‘Thompson Seedless’ (unpatented). The male parent of the cross is an unnamed (unpatented), seedless grapevine resulting from a series of crosses involving ‘Emperor’, ‘Thompson Seedless’, and ‘Almeria’ (unpatented). The hybridization resulting in ‘15-97-77’ was made near McFarland, Calif. in 1994. Seeds from the cross were collected, stratified, and finally planted in a greenhouse in January of 1995. The seedling population of 60 plants was planted in the field in the spring of 1995 near McFarland, Calif. The new grape plant was selected from this seedling population in 1997. It was then propagated by cuttings and grafting to ‘Freedom’ (unpatented) rootstock in 1998 near McFarland, Calif. Those resulting plants were stable and typical of the original vine.

#The new grape plant named ‘15-97-77’ is quite distinctive and unlike any other table grape available on the market known to me. Its very large berries are obovate and average over 10 g with applications of exogenous gibberellic acid. The large clusters average over 1500 g under standard cultural practices, but are quite loose and amenable to packing for cold storage purposes.

#The accompanying drawings illustrate the following:

#FIG. 1 shows a fruit cluster on the vine.

#FIG. 2 shows a cane, leaf, natural fruit cluster (left) and fruit cluster following gibberellic acid applications (right).

#The following description of grapevine ‘15-97-77’ contains references to color names taken from The Munsell Color Chart for Plant Tissues, published by Munsell Color, New Windsor, N.Y. Descriptors used herein conform to those set forth by the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources Institute Grape Descriptors (Vitis spp.) of 1983 and/or 1997 which were developed in collaboration with the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin (OIV) and the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV) and published in Descriptors for Grapevine (Vitis app.) (Anonymous, International Plant Genetic Resources Institute, 1997, ISBN 92-9043-352-3).

#Descriptions of the new invention apply to vines of ‘15-97-77’ grown on ‘Freedom’ rootstock at a density of 1,537 vines per hectare grown in Kern County, Calif. in 2001. These vines were in their first year of full production having been planted in 1998. These descriptions are believed to apply generally to the new variety grown under similar circumstances elsewhere:

#General: