Grape Varieties

Panneer vs Thompson Seedless vs Bangalore Blue

By Harshavardhan Manavalan, Founder · Published 2026-10-05 · 3 min read

Panneer (Muscat Hamburg)

Panneer is generally identified as Muscat Hamburg, a Vitis vinifera table grape. An FAO-hosted page calls it a purple seeded variety, and Krishi Jagran describes medium to large, compact bunches. It is the main grape in Cumbum Valley, where Wikipedia reports about 90,000 tonnes of muscat grapes a year against about 10,000 tonnes of Thomson seedless. That Wikipedia figure is not dated.

TNAU says Muscat is pruned to four buds and yields about 30 tonnes per hectare per year, against 15 tonnes for seedless varieties. Those are advisory figures for grapes in general, not measured Cumbum yields.

Thompson Seedless

Wikipedia says the grape is also called Sultanina and is assumed to have come from Asia Minor. It is named after William Thompson, an early California grower. It is Vitis vinifera and is used as a table grape, for raisins and for wine.

In India, the ICAR grape research centre says Thompson Seedless and its mutants are mainly used for raisins, and lists mutants such as Sonaka, Tas-A-Ganesh and Manik Chaman. An older FAO-hosted page (2001-02 data) puts it at 55 percent of Indian grape area, and another page gives about 120,000 tonnes a year going into raisins. These are dated figures.

Bangalore Blue

Wikipedia says Bangalore Blue is Vitis labrusca, a fox grape, also called Isabella, with black skin. It is used mainly for eating, jams, jellies, juice and fortified wines, and is grown on about 5,000 hectares, mostly in the Nandi Valley.

The sources conflict on origin. Wikipedia says it has been grown for about 150 years around Bangalore. Digital GI says it was developed as a hybrid in the 1960s at the Indian Institute of Horticultural Research. We did not find a primary source, so we cannot say which is right.

The ICAR page recommends Bangalore Blue for juice in Tamil Nadu. FAO-hosted material calls it a seeded black grape and the main juice variety.

Side by side

Species: Panneer and Thompson are Vitis vinifera; Bangalore Blue is Vitis labrusca.
Seeds: Panneer seeded; Thompson seedless; Bangalore Blue seeded.
Skin: Panneer purple to purplish-brown; Bangalore Blue black. We found no skin colour for Thompson Seedless in the pages we opened.
Main uses in the sources: Panneer for table fruit, wine, juice and raisins; Thompson for table fruit and raisins; Bangalore Blue for juice, jam and fortified wine.
Main area: Panneer in Cumbum, Theni; Thompson recommended by ICAR for Maharashtra, Karnataka, Hyderabad and Tamil Nadu, and grown in Nashik; Bangalore Blue in the Bangalore region.

Flavour

Muscat grapes get their aroma from monoterpenes, per Wikipedia. Digital GI says the "foxy" aroma of Bangalore Blue comes from terpenes in the skin. We have no source on flavour of Thompson Seedless.

We make no claim here about which grape is better. The right grape depends on whether you want seeds, aroma, or a particular product.

Frequently asked questions

Is Panneer a seedless grape?

No. The sources describe Panneer (Muscat Hamburg) as a seeded variety. Thompson Seedless is the seedless one.

Is Bangalore Blue the same species as Panneer?

No. Wikipedia lists Bangalore Blue as Vitis labrusca. Panneer is Muscat Hamburg, a Vitis vinifera.

Which grape is used for raisins in India?

The ICAR grape centre says Thompson Seedless and its mutants are mainly used for raisins. Panneer is also reported to be used for raisins in Cumbum.

Sources

Curious about the grape itself?

Shop Panneer Dry Grapes

Running a business on WhatsApp and spreadsheets?

Explore MM AgroFlow Talk to us about consulting