The process of ripening and softening in grape begins at veraison and is closely related to the depolymerization of pectin components. A variety of enzymes are involved in pectin metabolism and one class of enzyme, pectin lyases (PLs), have been reported to play an important role in softening in many fruits; however, little information is available on theVvPLgene family in grape. In this study, 16VvPLgenes were identified in the grape genome using bioinformatics methods. Among them,VvPL5,VvPL9, andVvPL15had the highest expression levels during grape ripening, which suggests that these genes are involved in grape ripening and softening. Furthermore, overexpression ofVvPL15affects the contents of water-soluble pectin (WSP) and acid-soluble pectin (ASP) in the leaves of Arabidopsis and significantly changes the growth of Arabidopsis plants. The relationship betweenVvPL15and pectin content was further determined by antisense expression ofVvPL15. In addition, we also studied the effect ofVvPL15on fruit in transgenic tomato plants, which showed thatVvPL15accelerated fruit ripening and softening. Our results indicate thatVvPL15plays an important role in grape berry softening during ripening by depolymerizing pectin.