What is "sops of wine"

Sop \Sop\, n. [OE. sop, soppe; akin to AS. s?pan to sup, to sip, to drink, D. sop sop, G. suppe soup, Icel. soppa sop. See Sup, v. t., and cf. Soup.]

1. Anything steeped, or dipped and softened, in any liquid; especially, something dipped in broth or liquid food, and intended to be eaten.

   He it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it.
   --John xiii. 26.

   Sops in wine, quantity, inebriate more than wine itself.
   --Bacon.

   The bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores, And make a sop of all this solid globe.
   --Shak.

2. Anything given to pacify; -- so called from the sop given to Cerberus, as related in mythology.

   All nature is cured with a sop.
   --L'Estrange.

3. A thing of little or no value. [Obs.]
   --P. Plowman.

   Sops in wine (Bot.), an old name of the clove pink, alluding to its having been used to flavor wine.

   Garlands of roses and sops in wine.
   --Spenser.

   Sops of wine (Bot.), an old European variety of apple, of a yellow and red color, shading to deep red; -- called also sopsavine, and red shropsavine.

n. An old European variety of apple, of a yellow and red colour, shading to deep red.

'Sops of Wine' refers to two similar old English apple cultivars that have flesh stained with dark red, looking like bread soaked in wine. One of them is also known as 'Rode Wyn Appel' and 'Sapson'. They have also been known as 'Shropshirevine', 'Strawberry', and 'Washington'.