Most of the members of Vitaceae are vines or lianas (liana), and they are usually characterized by swollen leaf nodes and by tendrils or flat-topped flower clusters (cymes; see inflorescence) that emerge on the opposite side of the stem from the leaf. The leaves are often palmately compound or lobed, and the flowers are small, with stamens equal in number to and opposite the petals. Fruits are few-seeded berries (such as the grapes), and the stems are often strongly lenticellate.

Vitis (grape), the grape genus, has 65 native species. V. vinifera (common grape) has a long history of cultivation and selection, probably originating in the Mediterranean region. Following an infestation in 1867 by Phylloxera vitifoliae ( grape phylloxera), an insect that kills the grape plants by sucking the fluids out of the vines, rootstocks of resistant American grape species were used to graft onto European varieties. Grapes from different species are eaten fresh or dried (raisins (raisin) and currants (currant)), and there are now hundreds of varietals derived from V. vinifera and related species that are used to produce different kinds of wine and to distill into brandy, including cognac and Armagnac.