12 Grape Varieties With Beautiful Fall Color

Grapes are woody perennial vines with many uses, from providing shade over an arbor to enjoying as fresh fruit, jams, jellies, and, of course, wine. Depending on your preferred use, there are varieties that span growing zones with different flavors and colors.

Fall foliage is another gift from the vine. At harvest’s end, they mellow to golds and yellows and sometimes reds and purples. In wine country, vineyards glow as vines transition, with sweeping hillsides in autumnal hues. 

Choose your vine tailored to your growing zone, disease resistance, sweetness preference, and harvest use, and don’t forget its splash of autumn tones. Enjoy long-lived grape varieties in the home garden for their delicious fruits and fall color displays.

Grape Growing Notes

There are American, French, and European vines and cultivars. These span table, juice and jelly, and wine grapes based on their best harvest use. You can enjoy them all for fresh eating, but some are more flavorful according to use. Wine grapes, for example, are more acidic and sugary with thicker skins and more seeds than table grapes. 

The vines prefer moderate climates with cool, wet winters and warm, arid summers. Many cultivars show cold hardiness and grow in northern climates, including some seedless types (which tend to be less hardy overall). Southern climates see the native muscadine, North America’s first cultivated grape, and its cultivars as top performers. Others suffer in high humidity.

Grapes do best in full sun, where heat ripens the fruit and increases sweetness. Wind and insects are pollinators, and bees, butterflies, and other beneficials like wasps visit the vines in spring and enjoy the ripe fruits. Birds and small mammals appreciate the juicy globes, too. Harvest season is in late summer and fall.

The woody vines need a six-foot spacing on a support structure and ramble unless pruned for size. They benefit from late winter pruning to promote vigor, health, and fullness. Grapevines need well-drained soils to thrive. They’re attractive on arbors, arches, pergolas, along fences, espaliered, and as trained hedgerows. Grapevines even grow in raised beds.

‘Canadice’

	botanical name Vitis ‘Canadice’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 5-8

‘Canadice’ is a popular American seedless table variety out of Cornell. A vigorous grower, it yields productive, compact clusters of mild, sweet red globes with a crisp texture on strong vines. In autumn, leaves transition from rich green to shades of orange and red. 

‘Canadice’ is handsome on an arbor or as a hedge with broad, shallowly lobed foliage. The moderately hardy seedless is an option for cool winter climates. ‘Canadice’ is a hybrid of the eastern North American native Vitis labrusca, or fox grape, known for its hardiness, robust growth, and adaptability.

‘Canadice’ is self-pollinating, low-maintenance, and strong, with good disease resistance. It’s ready to harvest early in the season, around mid-August.

‘Concord’

	botanical name Vitis labrusca ‘Concord’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 4-9

‘Concord’ is the most-grown selection and American standard in the home garden. The durable grower withstands cold winters and tolerates hot, humid summers better than many other cultivars. It produces blue-black fruits late in the season, and foliage turns a good yellow.

‘Concord’ is an heirloom from wild V. labrusca vines out of Concord, Massachusetts, in 1843. One of the oldest cultivars, it remains among the most popular. Spring flowers are greenish-white and fragrant and yield the dark rounds prized in juices, jams, and wines.

‘Himrod’

	botanical name Vitis ‘Himrod’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 5-8

A high-quality white grape variety with an early crop and fall color, ‘Himrod’ is another V. labrusca hybrid. This seedless produces small bunches of crisp, sweet fruits that mature to golden yellow. These are prime for fresh eating as a sugary dessert grape and drying as raisins.

‘Himrod’ is sturdy and ornamental with textured, deep green foliage. Leaves turn yellow in cooling temperatures and complement the golden fruits.

‘Reliance’

	botanical name Vitis ‘Reliance’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 4-8

‘Reliance’ is an early maturing red with productive fruiting and a sweet, mild taste. The University of Arkansas developed this V. labrusca hybrid in 1965 by crossing V. ‘Ontario’ and V. ‘Suffolk Red’ to achieve a cold-hardy, seedless, early-producing vine with good flavor.

In varying shades of pink and rosy red, the fruits are good for eating fresh and as juices, preserves, and raisins. In fall, flashes of gold, orange, and crimson color shine on this grape variety’s vines.

Color richness varies in ‘Reliance,’ with some seasons showing pale fruits. In wet seasons or with late, heavy rains, the juice-filled grapes exceed capacity and may crack. In average years, the skin is thin and tender with soft flesh and meltaway fruits. The Royal Horticultural Society Award of Garden Merit recipient shows fungal-disease resistance in addition to its ability to grow in varying conditions.

‘Noble’

	botanical name Vitis rotundifolia ‘Noble’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 5-9

‘Noble’ is a muscadine with heavy purple fruits. In the Southeast, rambling muscadines are among the first to yellow as summer turns to autumn. Gold foliage dots the treetops in woodlands and along roadsides as tall, thick vines run and sprawl.

The southern natives don’t mind high heat and humidity. They have a distinctive flavor with a concentrated musky sweetness, often used in juices and wines from the region. 

‘Noble’ is a top juice and red wine grape with stable purple pigments. It boasts good disease resistance, vigor, and reliable production quality. Look to ‘Carlos’ for large, bronze-skinned rounds and ‘Nesbitt’ for purples good for fresh eating.

‘Niagara’

	botanical name Vitis labrusca ‘Niagara’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 5-8

‘Niagara’ is the most popular white grape for juices. It’s also the most-produced green grape in the U.S. The hardy, late fruiter from 1868 is a seedless descendant of the purple ‘Concord.’ ‘Niagara’ produces full bunches of medium-to-large, light green-to-chartreuse grapes. 

The leafy vine creates a good screen for shade and privacy. Yellow foliage brightens the cool season landscape.

‘Schuyler’

	botanical name Vitis ‘Schuyler’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 6-8

‘Schuyler’ is an Award of Garden Merit recipient for its strong growth, disease resistance, and cold tolerance among the European vinifera species. Large clusters of very sweet, blue-black rounds are ready to pick from August through October. Eat them fresh off the vine or use them in winemaking.

Better yet, ‘Schuyler’ grapes also offer gorgeous fall color for a cold-tolerant variety. The autumnal leaves turn red and purple for a striking contrast among golds and oranges.

‘Glenora’

	botanical name Vitis ‘Glenora’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 5-9

‘Glenora’ is a black table grape and an American V. labrusca ‘Ontario’ and European V. vinifera ‘Russian Seedless’ hybrid. It brings the best of both varieties: a hardy, vigorous nature and flavorful, seedless, versatile fruits. 

The early producer yields loose, heavy clusters of small-to-medium blue rounds. The flavor is sweet and spicy with blueberry notes. 

‘Glenora’ is the first black seedless variety and is good for the table, jams, and wine. The vines have rounded, bright gold and green leaves. The fresh greens transition to deep bronze as the weather shifts.

‘Queen of Esther’

	botanical name Vitis vinifera ‘Queen of Esther’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 6-9

‘Queen of Esther’ is a sweet dessert type with rosy-red hues. Full bunches produce early with good cold hardiness (for vinifera) and a juicy flavor. This tasty seedless is ready to pick in September.

In the fall, leaves show a striking pattern of crimson with yellow venation. The dual ornament of pretty blush fruits and vibrant seasonal foliage make this ‘Queen’ a stand out.

‘Blueberry’

	botanical name Vitis labrusca ‘Blueberry’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 7-10

A newer variety, ‘Blueberry’ has a sweet, mildly tart, slight blueberry taste with juicy, fleshy fruits. Dense clusters range from purple to dark blue to near black. It’s a slip-grape type, where the flesh pops right out of the skin.

‘Blueberry’ has showy leaves that change from green to yellow, orange, and red as temperatures drop and daylength shortens.

‘Swenson Red’

	botanical name Vitis ‘Swenson Red’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 15-20’
	hardiness zones 4-8

This 1977 hybrid was a joint release by cold-climate breeder Elmer Swensen and the University of Minnesota, noted for its winter hardiness and fresh eating. Large bunches of crisp, red globes have hints of strawberry.

Skin is thin, and flesh is firm with a bright, juicy burst fresh off the stem. These also produce red or blush wines.

The berries mature in mid-September. While hardy to zone 4, winter protection is beneficial below zone 5. 

‘Roger’s Red’

	botanical name Vitis ‘Roger’s Red’
	sun requirements Full sun
	height 20-40’
	hardiness zones 6-8

This hybrid California wild grapevine (V. californica) and V. vinifera continues to gain popularity as an ornamental. Fall foliage is exceptional in brilliant red. 

‘Roger’s Red’ is a fast grower, adding three to six feet each year. As with other grapevines, pruning helps maintain a manageable size. Without support, the vines sprawl as a low, spreading groundcover. ‘Roger’s Red’ shows good disease resistance and drought tolerance.