Amusingly tax policy also allegedly gave us brandy. When you're taxed by volume (such as by the cask or barrel of wine) you may wish to dodge some taxes by distilling your wine product into brandy ("burned wine") to concentrate the volume, with the aim of re-constituting it with water for consumption, later.

Then of course you find out the reconstitution tastes nothing like the original wine, and you also may discover that leaving it in the wooden casks makes a pleasant drink on its own...