Beauty Seedless

Beauty Seedless (Queen of the Vineyard x Black Kishmish) Bred by H. P. Olmo at the University of California at Davis. The first black seedless grape created by breeding. The small, egg-shaped berries have a light spicy flavor. With thinning, very large, 5-pound clusters are possible, but when the clusters are so large there is a tendency for botrytis to develop inside without showing it outwardly. When an affected cluster is handled, it collapses into rot. The normal, untreated clusters are small enough for air circulation through them to keep rot from starting easily. The vine hardens off early in the fall so that vines survived a freeze of 5oF, on November 5 1985 in western Oregon, with noticeably less damage than other vinifera. Beauty Seedless vines are very vigorous, second only to Centennial. Produces well enough when pruned to spurs on cordons, but with the high vigor, training the vine to canes will help reduce the vigor.