Spiced wine? Probably to try to cover the taste of bad wine.
Salty fish meant "preserved". Much like salt cod, etc.
Say, didn't you ever see the "Good Eats" epi on baking a fresh whole fish in salt? Something like 4lbs salt to 1lb fish.
Wow, it sounds worse and worse, except for the Alton Brown reference.
No, I loved Alton Brown’s show! Didn’t watch every episode. But I learned a lot watching the episodes I managed to catch. I do remember him, or someone, baking fish in tons of salt. Luckily for his guests, the fish didn’t absorb all of it or, being the honest person he is, he would’ve showed the guests clutching their throats and flopping around on the floor like stranded fish!