Grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) is a worldwide fruit crop of primary economic interest for berry consumption and winemaking. The molecular basis of grape berry ripening has been partially elucidated with the isolation and functional characterization of transcription factors which regulate sugar accumulation and secondary metabolism. After the recent publication of the complete sequence draft of two grapevine genotypes, a set of small non coding RNAs has been isolated by Sanger and high-throughput sequencing of small RNA libraries. These include conserved and grapevine-specific microRNAs as well as other small RNAs potentially involved in berry ripening. Small non coding RNAs are effectors of silencing pathways that underlie transgene silencing phenomena observed in several experiments of Agrobacterium-mediated transformation of grapevine. The knowledge of the silencing mechanisms in grapevine promises to facilitate the development of transient systems for gene functional studies.