From four kinds of Vitis davidii, widely planted in Hunan Province, an ethanol-producing bacterium named MUY3 was obtained from the surface of the rice grape by separation screening and identification. Its physiological and biochemical characteristics were investigated, including the cultivation of growth curve, assimilation test, methyl red test and high osmotic pressure test. Moreover, its 16S rDNA sequence was analyzed, and the phylogenetic tree analysis were used to identify this bacterium. The results showed that MUY3 was close to Enterobacter xiangfangensis and the similarity was 100%. Therefore, the strain was identified as Enterobacter xiangfangensis 10-17.