Wine Glossary

Glossary Page: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Glossary Page P

Pectolytic Enzyme
An enzyme that breaks down the pectin in fruit, extracting the juice and assists in the clearing of wines. Also known as Super Enzyme, pectic enzyme, pectolase, pectinol.

pH
A scientific measure of acidity - the lower the pH, the higher the acidity. The term comes from the French Pouvoir Hydrogéne meaning "hydrogen power".

Phylloxera
A parasite louse that feeds on the roots of Vitis vinifera grape vines, resulting in the vines’ premature death. See Growing Vines for more details.

Pigeage
When you make a red-grape wine, the skins of the red grapes form a 'cap' on top of the wine while it ferments. This cap must be broken up and stirred back into the wine to give it a lot of contact. This breaking up is called pigeage.

Pomace
The skins, stalks, and pips (seeds) that remain after making wine. This is also called marc.

Port
A sweet wine which is produced from grapes grown and processed in the Douro region of Portugal. It is fortified with grape spirits before fermentation has completed thus preserving some of the natural grape sugars resulting in a sweet taste.

Potassium Sorbate
Used to stop fermentation or to prevent re-fermenting in sweet wines. It should always be used together with a Campden tablet.

Potential Alcohol
The potential alcohol of the wine depends on the amount of sugar there is in the juice prior to fermentation.

Precipitated Chalk
Another name for calcium carbonate. It is used to reduce excess acids in wine, in particular rhubarb wines.

Press wine
During the winemaking process the wine must be separated from the grape solids i.e. pips, skins, pulp and stalks. It may be run off (free-run wine) to give a higher quality wine than that obtained by pressing the cap, (press wine). Press wine contains more tannin.

Primary Fermentation : The main fermentation that turns a vat of grape juice into a wine. This is where the yeast works on the sugars in the raw juice, converting those sugars to alcohol and carbon dioxide. See Wine Making for more information.

Proof
The scale for measuring alcohol.
In the UK    100% proof = 57.1% alcohol by volume
In the USA 100% proof = 50% alcohol by volume.
In the UK, 70 deg proof spirit means the drink contains 70% of proof spirit. Thus ordinary propietary bottles of spirit will only contain 40% alcohol by volume (ABV) (70% x 57.1% = 39.97%).

Punt
The indentation found in the base of a wine bottle. The punt depth can often be related to wine quality, with better quality wines having a deeper punt.