Andy Watkinson Aug 16, 2014:

Neither are they used indistinctly in Spain - "vid de mesa" is used only in highly specific/specialised cases, como el que nos ocupa.

Cecilia Franetovich Aug 16, 2014:

Andy, in South America, we don't use it that way, we don't refer to the fruit you bring to the table as "vid". We make the distinction between vid and uva, and we don't use the terms indistinctly.

Andy Watkinson Aug 16, 2014:

Cecilia, it's not "wrong" - it's used in the "Clasificación Nacional de Actividades Económicas" (CNAE) and published in the BOE.
0123 Cultivo de cítricos
0124 Cultivo de frutos con hueso y pepitas.
0124 Cultivo de frutos con hueso y pepitas
0121 Cultivos de vid de mesa.

Cecilia Franetovich Aug 16, 2014:

Vides de mesa I think the expression "vid de mesa" is wrong in the first place. Robert is right, there is not such thing as a "vid de mesa", but the correct term is "uva de mesa" meaning the fruit, or "vid" when referring to the plant. Anyway, based on the little context that we have I assume the source text is about "uvas de mesa", hence "table grapes".

Chris Neill Aug 16, 2014:

@Andy I was just affirming your comment below

Susie Rawson Aug 16, 2014:

Table and wine grapes

Wine grapes on the vine
Commercially cultivated grapes can usually be classified as either table or wine grapes, based on their intended method of consumption: eaten raw (table grapes) or used to make wine (wine grapes). While almost all of them belong to the same species, Vitis vinifera, table and wine grapes have significant differences, brought about through selective breeding. Table grape cultivars tend to have large, seedless fruit (see below) with relatively thin skin. Wine grapes are smaller, usually seeded, and have relatively thick skins (a desirable characteristic in winemaking, since much of the aroma in wine comes from the skin). Wine grapes also tend to be very sweet: they are harvested at the time when their juice is approximately 24% sugar by weight. By comparison, commercially produced "100% grape juice", made from table grapes is usually around 15% sugar by weight.[11 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grape

Andy Watkinson Aug 16, 2014:

@Chris And your point is.....?

Chris Neill Aug 16, 2014:

@andy Making a distinction between edible grapes and those used for wine production

Andy Watkinson Aug 16, 2014:

Robert, it's not referring to the plant as such. "Vid", here, is a metonym, as 'twere.
The text is distinguishing between "vid/uva de vino" and "vid/uva de mesa". Two different things.

DLyons Aug 16, 2014:

Table grapes?