Appears in
Oxford Companion to Wine

By Jancis Robinson

Published 2006

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pericarp, the ‘fruit wall’ forming the bulk of a plant’s ovary, consisting of sugary flesh and highly coloured skin attractive to animals, especially birds, with the result that the seeds are spread. In the grape berry, the whole fruit except for the seeds (both the skin and the flesh) constitutes the pericarp. See grape for more details.