The use of consensus chloroplast microsatellites primers for dicotyledonous chloroplast genomes revealed the existence of intra and interspecific length variation within the genus Vitis. Three chloroplast microsatellite loci were found to be polymorphic in samples of Vitis vinifera, Vitis berlandieri, Vitis riparia, and Vitis rupestris out of a total of 10 consensus primer pairs tested. These polymorphisms were always due to a variable number of mononucleotide residues within A and (or) T stretches in the amplified regions. Chloroplast microsatellite polymorphisms were used to demonstrate the maternal inheritance of chloroplast in V. vinifera and to characterise the chloroplast haplotypes present in wine grape cultivars of this species grown in Spain and Greece. The different distribution of haplotype frequencies in the two ends of the Mediterranean growth area suggests the existence of independent domestication events for grapevine.