This recipe is for the double dish slow cooker, which requires water to be placed in the cooking vessel while cooking in the insert pan (like a double boiler). When making in the cooking vessel, no water is needed.
Straw wine. Straw wine, or raisin wine, is a wine made from grapes that have been dried to concentrate their juice. The result is similar to that of the ice wine process, but suitable for warmer climates.
There is one obvious answer to the second question: the epicentre of high alcohol red wines is the Barossa Valley, with McLaren Vale a close second, the Clare Valley third. Grenache frequently has the highest alcohol but shiraz is not much lower and is a far more important variety. The emergence of high octane Barossa shiraz is often said to be due to the love of it by Robert M. Parker, the American wine writer who has stood like a colossus over world opinion since 1982.