This book focuses on grapevine, economically the most important perennial fruit crop in the world.

There are good concise prefaces to both the series and this volume at the start of the book with a content's list and a useful complete list of authors’ details.

It comprehensively covers basic plant information, economic impact and variation in germplasm resources. It then goes on to update the reader on recent developments in the field of molecular genetics with chapters on association mapping, linkage mapping, the connection between genetics and physical maps, marker-assisted breeding through to transcriptomics, proteomics and metabolomics with bioinformatic tools covered before the final chapter on future prospects.

While there is a tremendous wealth of information in this book as well as a full and appropriate list of references, I did find variation in the quality of chapters. The book is also difficult to read at places with some areas ambiguous in their interpretation. This aspect may be the result of translation issues. Nevertheless, I would recommend this book to colleagues and students who have a specific interest in modern applications to grapevine cultivar improvement.