Home > Wine Glossary > P: Palo Cortado to Puttonyos
Wine Glossary: P
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Palo Cortado
A rare style of dry Sherry. It is the result of failure of complete
development of the flor, so it starts life as neither
Fino nor Amontillado.
What flor there is subsequently dies, and as a consequence the eventual wine
develops a character midway between an Amontillado and an
Oloroso.
Passito (Italy)
The passito method describes the drying of grapes prior to
fermentation. The
dehydration results in an increased sugar concentration. The practice is
traditional in Veneto, Italy, particularly in the production of Amarone della
Valpolicella and Recioto della Valpolicella, but also for Recioto di Soave and
other sweet wines. Traditionally the grapes are dried on straw mats, but they
may also be dried in baskets in warm lofts, or even hung directly from the
rafters.
Pasteurisation
The process of sterilisation by heating, named after Louis Pasteur. The
process may be used to protect against bacterial spoilage before bottling, by
heating the wine. There are concerns, however, about the effect of heat on the
quality of wine, and thus many quality orientated producers avoid this practice.
Nevertheless some famous producers do employ flash
pasteurisation.
Pedro Ximénez
An important Sherry grape, which produces an intensely sweet juice. It may be
bottled as an unblended PX Sherry - so obviously a very sweet wine - or may be
blended with other wines to produce a sweet style.
Pétillant (France)
A term used to describe a lightly sparkling wine. Pétillance may occur in many
wines not intended to be sparkling at all, such as top German Rieslings which
may often be bottled with a small amount of residual
carbon dioxide, hence the sparkle.
Photosynthesis
The biological process in which plants, by virtue of chlorophyll and energy
derived from the sun, convert carbon dioxide and water into sugar and oxygen.
The result is the accumulation of sugar in the plant, including the fruit. The
accumulation of sugar continues until the fruit is eventually considered ripe,
although this only refers to sugar ripeness
not physiological ripeness.
Phylloxera
A vine louse which devastated the vineyards of Europe in the late 18th
Century. The cause of the disease was initially uncertain, but eventually the
Phylloxera vastatrix louse was identified on the roots of the affected
vines. It was imported from North America, where the indigenous American
Vitis labrusca vines
are resistant to the effects of the louse. The solution: graft the European
Vitis vinifera vines onto American
rootstock. Now, save for a tiny proportion of
vineyards, all vines are grafted onto such rootstock before planting. This
caused many difficulties - no longer could cash-strapped vignerons propagate
vines by pushing a runner into the soil - they had to purchase more expensive
grafted vines from the nursery. Some vignerons today continue to plant ungrafted
material, because of heritage (such as the vines for Bollinger's Vieilles Vignes
Française Champagne), expense, because of a belief that ungrafted vines make
better wine, or because they have suitable soils - Phylloxera dislikes sandy soils.
Physiological ripeness
This refers to the ripening of substances other than
sugar in the grapes, such as tannins. Picking grapes that have
sugar ripeness ensures the wine will reach a
sufficient alcohol content as the sugar is
converted, but if the grapes are not physiologically ripe they will impart a
green, harsh character to the wine. The onset of physiological ripeness is
signified by the change in colour of the pips from green to yellow.
Pierce's Disease
A bacterial disease spread by insects known as sharpshooters or leafhoppers.
It has devastated areas of California's vineyards. There is no known treatment,
although the problem is subject to considerable research.
Pigeage (France)
This is one method of submerging the cap of skins and
grape solids, which is kept in contact with the fermenting wine to increase
extract during the
cuvaison. Pigeage ŕ pied is the process of pushing it down with the foot. The same
may be achieved by pumping the fermenting wine over the cap, or be submerging it
using boards laid across the top of the vat.
Plafond Limite de Classement (France)
This is a percentage increase permitted in the annual yield, or
rendement de base, for a single specified
vintage. Together the plafond de classement and the rendement de base may not
exceed the total maximum for the appellation, otherwise known as the
rendement butoir. As an example, the
rendement de base for Quarts de Chaume is 20 hl/ha, and the rendement butoir is
25 hl/ha. Thus in any given vintage dispensation may be given to increase the
permitted yield by as much as 25% of the rendement de base, thus increasing from
20 hl/ha (the maximum permissible without any dispensation, in all vintages) to
25 hl/ha (the maximum permissible for this one vintage). This 25% (here 5 hl/ha)
increase is the plafond limite de classement. In practise it may be a much
smaller percentage than this.
Portugal
See my Portuguese wine guide.
Potential Alcohol
The potential alcohol depends on the must
weight. The more sugar there is in the juice prior to fermentation, the
greater the amount of alcohol in the final wine, hence it has a higher potential
alcohol.
Powdery Mildew
See Oidium.
Prädikat (Germany, Austria)
The Prädikat is a classification of wine depending on the
must weight, which may be reported in a variety
of units including KMW,
Oechsle, Baumé and Brix.
The classification includes three basic levels, Kabinett, Spätlese
or Auslese. Additional categories include
Beerenauslese,
Trockenbeerenauslese and Eiswein. This is the
only classification system dependent on sugar content, implying (although it is
not necessarily true) that the more sugar a wine has the better it is - a belief
no doubt related to Germany's northerly location where ripening of grapes has
been difficult in the past. It does not form a guide to taste, as a wine with a
higher must weight may be vinified dry and so will not necessarily taste sweeter.
For more information see
my German wine guide.
Press wine
During the winemaking process the wine must be taken from the grape solids -
pips, skins, pulp and stalks. First it may be run off - this is the
free-run wine and is of higher quality than the
wine obtained by pressing the cap, which is the press
wine. Press wine has more tannin. It may be blended back in in varying
proportions according to the practice of the winemaker, or it may even be
blended into another wine if more than one cuvée is produced, such as at
Charles Joguet in Chinon.
Prüfungsnummer (Germany)
See Amtliche Prüfnummer.
Pruning
Essential vineyard practice, important in canopy
management. For more information see my article on
vine training techniques.
Pupitre (France)
A wine rack which holds bottles in a suitable position for
remuage. For more information see my guide to
Champagne.
Puttonyos (Hungary)
A 25kg basket used in the harvest of grapes, puttonyos have become a measure of
the addition of sweet
nobly rotten grapes known as
Aszú to Tokay wine. The more puttonyos are added per gönc
of dry wine, the sweeter the final wine will be. Generally wines range from
three to six puttonyos. A wine made from harvested grapes where the Aszú are not
separated out range from dry to sweet and are called
Szamoridni. A wine made from the puttonyos
grapes alone is called Aszú Essencia.
Glossary pages: A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W XYZ
