🍇 Yulski Biser

Yulski Biser is a Bulgarian early-ripening table grape variety with white berries. It was bred at the Institute of Viticulture and Enology in Pleven: according to VIVC, the cross was made in 1954. According to the breeders, its parents are Afus Ali (Dattier de Beyrouth) and a hybrid of Perle von Csaba with Chilyaki rozovy.

The Pleven institute's breeder, Professor Miroslav Ivanov, told Agrozona (2021) that breeding there began in 1926 and that the first notable results came in the middle of the last century. That was when the first table varieties were created: the early-ripening Yulski Biser, Yubiley and Misket Dunavski. However, because of their smaller bunches and small berries, they did not catch on in mass production.

In VIVC the variety has 7 synonyms, and its samples are kept in 15 collections. Yulski Biser became a parent of the Slovak table grape Diamant: in 1970 Dorota Pospíšilová crossed it with the Hungarian Pannónia Kincse, and in 1997 Diamant was registered in Slovakia.

Why it matters to you. Yulski Biser is one of the first table grapes of Bulgarian breeding and an ancestor of Diamant. If you need large bunches for the market, though, remember that its smaller bunches and berries are exactly why it never spread in production.