The fascinating history of the rise and fall and modern comeback of fortified and port-style wines found in the United States In the years following the Gold Rush, the only late-19th-century California wine of national acclaim was a fortified wine called Angelica. Brandy and the port-style wines it fortified were the mainstay of its wine industry during the late 1800s. Today, some of America's most renowned wineries produce a port-style wine, and the popularity and quality of American fortified wines is in resurgence. This seminal guidebook gives a comprehensive list of producers and their products, includes vintage guides and indexes of vintage American port-styles organized by price, and a section on how the most notable U.S. wines stand up against those from abroad."