Primitivo (pree-mee-tee'-voh)
A red wine grape grown in the Balkans and Italy. For many years it was believed to be the progenitor of California's Zinfandel grape but recent DNA testing indicates that the grapes are different clones of the same original varietal, likely Crljenak, a grape from Croatia. This makes them essentially identical genetically, with only very minor differences in yield and maturation time. See Zinfandel.

Prohibition
In 1920 the 18th amendment to the U.S. Constitution was passed into law, outlawing the sale of alcohol and heralding the beginning of a thirteen year experiment that failed miserably. Between 1920 and 1933, when the 18th was repealed by the 21st amendment, consumption of alcohol in the U.S. doubled. Meanwhile, crime became rampant as smugglers, bootleggers, and organized crime syndicates each fought for their piece of the black market.

Prosecco (pro-seh-co)
An Italian white wine varietal grown primarily in the Veneto region. It's also the name of sparkling wines made from the grape, which can be Spumante, meaning fully carbonated, or Frizzante, meaning lightly carbonated. In the U.S. it's often served in lieu of more expensive Champagne. Characteristically, Prosecco is a dry, crisp wine with pleasant apple aromas and flavors. Proscecco can also be a still wine, but the still versions are rarely exported.

Provence (pro-vahn'ss)
A vast and beautiful viticultural region in southern France that lies east of the Rhone River and extends south to the Mediterranean Sea. It is said that wine production there goes back to approximately 600 B.C. Every year, Provence produces over 40 million cases of a wide variety of wines. Perhaps the best known is Cotes du Rhone. Red wine varietals popular in the area include Syrah, Carignan, Mourvedre, Grenache and more recently, Cabernet Sauvignon. Popular white varietals include Sémillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Ugni Blanc, and Viognier.

Punt
The inward depression at the bottom of a Champagne or wine bottle. The punt was originally created to strengthen bottles containing carbonated wine so they wouldn't break under the internal pressure, but it also catches sediment that precipitates out of the wine and allows easier stacking of the bottles.

QbA (Germany)
Short for Qualitätswein bestimmter Anbaugebiete, QbA is the mid-range of three categories delineating the quality of German wines. The other categories are QmP (the highest) and DMW (the lowest). QbA permits the addition of added sugar or süssreserve.

QmP (Germany)
An abbreviated form of Qualitätswein mit Prädikat, which translates loosely as "quality wine with distinction" and denotes the highest quality of German wines. There are six different designations within this category, each indicating a different level of sugar in the must. These wines have a certain minimum alcohol content and are not allowed to contain any added sugar. As of 2007, this wine category is now referred to as Prädikatswein.

Quinta (Portugal)
The Portuguese term for "farm", quinta is analogous to chateau in France and connotes a vineyard or wine-growing estate. Quintas are often associated with well known "port houses" such as Graham, Dow or Fonseca. Many of their grapes wind up in house blends but more and more are producing single-quinta wines and single-quinta vintage ports.

Racking
The process of transferring wine from one container to another. Racking is done with the express purpose of leaving sediment behind. The process also aides in the development of the wine by providing oxygen (via exposure to air) which is required for creating secondary aromas. White and light red wines are typically racked one or two times, whereas heavier reds usually undergo the process three or four times before bottling.

Reserva (Spain)
A legal designation for Spanish red wines that means the wine has aged at least three years prior to being released, with a minimum of one of those years inside of an oak barrel. The word is allowed to be used on white and rosé wines that have been aged a minimum of two years, six months of which were in the barrel.

Reserve
Unlike in Spain and Italy, in the U.S. the term means nothing legally. It's used because the implication is that the wine is among the best the vineyard has to offer. Often this is true, but unfortunately, it's frequently used as a gimmick and applied to a low-quality and/or cheap wine.

Retsina (ret-see'-nah)
Thousands of years ago the Greeks discovered that adding pine resin (pitch) to wine helped to keep it preserved by preventing the wine from spoiling. Apparently they became enamored of its distinct taste in wine, and Retsina, with its resin flavor still derived from pitch, is the direct descendent of its ancient predecessor. Popular in Greece, Retsinas can be white or rosé. Many who travel there acquire a taste for them perhaps because they're part of the romance of Greece.

Rhine Wine
In Germany the phrase indicates wines made in the Rhine Valley. In the U.S., however, the phrase is generic and applied mostly to semi-sweet white wines with an alcohol content under fourteen percent.

Rhone
One of the longest rivers in Western Europe, it starts in Switzerland and then wends its way into and through France in a valley that for a 125 mile stretch makes up one of the great French wine regions - from Avignon in the south of France to just below Vienne to the north. The northern end of the valley produces the powerful Syrah based wines of Cote-Rotie. The village of Condrieu, a little to the south, is home of the Viognier grape. Continue south and find Hermitage and further still, Chateauneuf-du-Pape, which cultivates and uses 13 allowable grape varieties. Vineyards also dot banks of the Rhone in Switzerland.

Rich
A wine tasting term referring to a full-flavored wine of opulence and intensity.

Riddling
Riddling is one step in the process of making sparkling wine via the champagne method or methode champenoise. In a process that takes six to eight weeks, bottles are turned slightly and tilted at increasing angles until finally inverted and all the sediment has neatly fallen into the neck of the bottle where it's easily removed via "disgorgement". The process was developed in 1805 by the newly widowed Madame Clicquot of the Champagne house of the same name. Done by hand in the past, today it is likely to be done by machine.