Fruits of the Amur grape are spherical black or purple, sometimes dark blue berries ranging from very acidic to sweet, with a diameter in the main to 12 mm, with a thick skin.

Vitis amurensis is a relic of pre-glacial subtropical vegetation of the Far East, it reaches the continental latitude Lake Kizi (about fifty-first parallel).

It grows in the forests of Manchuria, Amur Oblast, Primorsky Krai, North East China (Anhui, Hebei, Heilongjiang, Jilin, Liaoning, Shandong, Shanxi, Zhejiang), and Korea.

Anthropogenic factors have adversely affected the number and status of the Amur grapes in their natural habitats, leading to a marked reduction in their range.

Amur grapes require about 700 mm of rain a year, so do not perform well in dry climates typical of many wine regions unless irrigated.

They are well suited to wetter areas usually considered too cool and wet for grapes such as North West Europe, Northern Russia and the Pacific Northwest.

Some notable hybrids with V. amurensis ancestry grown in Western Europe are "Zarya severa", Severny and Rondo.

In Jilin in northeast China, the Japanese created the first wineries producing wine from wild grapes V. amurensis.

Faced with this difficulty, the Japanese tried to take advantage of high resistance to cold of the wild vine in the region to produce wine.

The climate of this region can be characterized by long, cold winters and short, warm summers, with average January temperatures ranging from -14C to -40C.

But the decisive step was taken when, in 1965, a wild vine hermaphrodite was discovered in the mountains a hundred miles from Changbeishan winery.

From there, the agricultural research institutes in the region of Jilin embarked on programs to improve the Amur grape, seeking to harness its cold resistance genes.