My maternal grandmother, Helen S. Wright, included a recipe for Saratoga wine also known as English sack, in her book Old Time Recipes for Home Made Wine published in 1909. Sack is another name for sherry, a white fortified wine from Spain. Grandmother’s recipe features fennel root, a sprig of rue, water and honey so does not seem to be sherry, or even similar to it. Fennel was traditionally used as a medicinal herb in Europe and is a popular culinary herb especially in Italy. It has a pleasant anise flavor which sweetens when it is cooked. Rue, on the other hand, has a bitter flavor and is used in the cuisine of Greece. Photo Credit Wikipedia
Here is the recipe for Saratoga Wine/English Stack
To every quart of water put a sprig of rue, and to every gallon a handful of fennel roots; boil these half an hour, then strain it out, and to every gallon of this liquor put three pounds of honey. Boil it two hours, and skim it well. When it is cold, pour it off, and turn it into the vessel, or such cask as is fit for it. Keep it a year in the vessel, and then bottle it. It is a very good sack
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Karen Meyers