A Master of Wine I met on the Bowery introduced me to Ripple.

Imagine a wine made from the seventy-third pressing--then fortified with alcohol. Then bottled and sold at about $1.79 a gallon. That was Ripple. (Those facts may be a bit off, but not by much.)

Ripple (or Thunderbird) were the product of what is today a fairly respectable winery: Ernest and Julio Gallo.