Species of the genus Tetrastigma serve as hosts to parasitic plants in the family Rafflesiaceae.

In the APG III system (2009) onwards, the family is placed in its own order, Vitales.

Molecular phylogenetic studies place the Vitales as the most basal clade in the rosids.

Plants of the World Online currently includes the following genera, placed in two subfamilies: Five tribes are now recognised in this subfamily:[5] Well preserved-fruits of Indovitis chitaleyae containing seeds with similar morphology to the Vitaceae have been recovered from Late Cretaceous Deccan Intertrappean beds of several sites in central India.

These fruits and their dispersed seeds found in the same sediments, about 66 million years old, represent the oldest known fossils of the grape family.