Report of a new wine grape variety Yuniang Ziyu

Abstract：Yuniang Ziyu is a mid-early maturing wine grape variety bred by artificial crossing between Merlot (Vitis vinifera‘Merlot’) and LN-33 (V. vinifera ‘LN-33’). The panicle was conical, occasionally with secondary panicle, the berries were compact, and the average panicle weight was 252.70 g. The berry was medium in size and balanced, with an average weight of 1.53 g. The berry was nearly round, purplish black, evenly colored, with mid- thick fruit powder, mid- thick peel, meat sac and plenty of juice. Each berry had 1-2 per seed (s). The juice was colorless and the pressed grape juice was ruby red. The soluble solid content of ripe berry was 21.6%, the soluble sugar content was 17.46%, the total acid content was 0.78%, the vitamin C content was 9.63 mg·100 g^-1 , and the tannin content was 4680 mg·kg^-1 . The berry was sweet and sour, and the flesh had the aroma of plum fruit. The berries started coloring in early July, and ripened in late July, and fully matured in early August in Zhengzhou. The berry development period lasted for 82 days. The bud burst rate was high, and the growth vigor was strong. The alcohol content, dry extract content, titratable acid, pH value and sulfur dioxide residue of the wine samples were all in accord with the national standard of dry red wine. The dry red wine was good in flavor and color. The variety had strong cold tolerance, drought tolerance, disease resistance and good yield. It could be cultivated in the suitable areas for grape in Henan and other similar areas.