What Is Ripple Wine?

Ripple wine was a kind of fortified wine that was famous during the 1970's. It was produced in the United States by the E & J Gallo Winery and was very popular among the social classes. It was relatively cheap in terms of price and thus was seen as being a drink of the alcoholics and the people in the streets. Ripple Wine is said to be a fortified wine because it has additional alcohol (most commonly added is brandy). Initially this additional alcohol was added so that the wine would be sweeter and thus could last for a longer duration.
Although this was initially just a method to preserve wines, consumers gradually started developing a preference for them with the extra alcohol and thus they were sold this way. The legal term for Fortified Wines is Dessert Wines.

I remember It was very popular in monetarily depressed neighborhoods