ABSTRACT The native grapes of Americas have provided valuable germplasm for improvement and development of cultivated commercial grape genotypes (for fresh fruit, wine and processing and rootstocks) all over United States and Canada, where Vitis vinifera or “ old world grape “ can not grow. Cultivated varieties developed based on Vitis aestivalis are the only American native grapes with remarkable color stability of the juice and wine and with qualities for longevity of the wines, and very pleasant “mouth feel” which makes them comparable with the so called “noble grape wine varieties” which belongs to the European grape Vitis vinifera. Vitis aestivalis Michaux is found in the eastern and central USA, from New England to Florida and from Wisconsin to Texas (Galet, 1998). The close proximity of related species and many variants to Vitis aestivalis has created confusion among taxonomists trying to classify grape species. Lately, DNA fingerprinting methods are broadly used for identification of various genotypes across the organism's population. We are aiming to define the phylogenetcs relations between the grape species and subspecies listed under Aestivales Planchon group (Munson, 1909) via data mining in the existing North American grape germplasm collections, ampelographic analyses and specifically expressed in the members of the group DNA microsatellites. DNA isolation and quantification of 9 Aestivales accession evenly distributed trough the area of natural habitat is completed. DNA amplification and fragment analysis with the set of 10 pairs of SSR markers from V. riparia, previously successfully used for grape species identification and two specific markers from Cynthiana/Norton var. developed in our lab are under way.