Ampelography The identikit of the vine A small to medium-sized leaf, three and five-lobed, with a lyre-shaped stalk cavity with overlapping borders. The mature bunch of grapes is medium-sized, compact, conical-cylindrical, sometimes pyramidal. The grape is medium-sized, with a persistent stylar remnant, golden yellow in colour, tending to amber… We shall stop here but we could continue for many pages. This is a fragment of a detailed description of a variety of vine, an identity card which describes it in minute detail. The vine description scheme is the final product of ampelography, a science which deals with the classification and description of the different species and varieties of vine. This is not an easy task; Vitis vinifera is a plant which adapts to life in very different soils and climates, by continued mutation. The most common descriptive scheme is the one approved by the international commission of the Office International de la Vigne et du Vin (O.I.V.) are for each variety of vine it gives the name, common names, vegetative characteristics (habit, vigour, description of the bunch of grapes, the grape, the leaf, how long it takes to germinate, when it matures), how it responds to cultivation (behaviour with regard to climatic factors, insects and diseases) and the most suitable habitats. The sample of text, by the way, comes from an ampelographic description of Muscat.