That only applies to wines that have actually seen grapes. Mad Dog is only fortified wine---mostly malt liquor or neutral grain spirits---like rubbing alcohol.
Actually, it applies to fermented drinks, like wine or beer, but not distilled alcohol like grain spirits. They just evaporate.
Antway, I've never heard of these drinks you speak of. Here, the drunks always drank brännvin or Marinella (a bitter aperitif which used to be the most bang for your buck here). When I did my court training (which is something like a mix of being a clerk and a junior judge when you get to try simpler cases on your own) I fined a great number of poor bums for drinking Marinella in public.