Grapevine (
Vitis vinifera
) is one of the major fruit crops in the world based on hectares cultivated and economic value, essentially due to the production of wine. The premium quality wines are produced from cultivars that enjoy a high level of consumer acceptance and are firmly entrenched in the market place. Transgenic breeding is attractive when compared to conventional breeding, because it offers a means of inserting new characters, such as disease resistance, into the genome of traditional cultivars without changing any of their other characteristics particularly wine typicity and quality. The aim of this review is to provide an outlook on the usefulness of genetic transformation in grapevine, not only to develop genetically modified cultivars for commercial release, but also as a valuable tool to understand the genetics and mechanisms of plant growth, development, and metabolism. Thus, the availability of improved and efficient techniques of transformation is needed to sustain the current development of grapevine genomics. Even if the future development of transgenic cultivars will depend essentially on a general acceptance of GM plant products by the consumers, it will require a complete and reliable assessment of their environmental and health safety, comparing the potential risks to the expected benefits of their use.