Proponents of the emerging pot-for-pleasure industry
want to grab a share of the nearly $2 billion tourism business in Sonoma County
with events like dinners that incorporate marijuana.
Courtesy of Sonoma Cannabis Company/Kristen Jeanne
In the epicurean world, Northern California is
famous for two intoxicants — wine and weed. With recreational marijuana about
to be legal in the Golden State, some cannabis entrepreneurs are looking to the
wine industry as a model.
On the elegant terrace of a winery overlooking the
vineyard-covered hills of Sonoma County, north of San Francisco, a dozen
invited guests are sipping pinot noir, nibbling hors d'oeuvres and taking hits
off a water pipe.
They have come for a farm-to-table meal of kale
salad, roasted vegetables and grilled flatiron steak paired with wine and
certain types of marijuana.
"What we've found so far is that sativas go
well with whites, indicas go well with reds," says Sam Edwards, president
of the Sonoma Cannabis Company.
He's part of the emerging pot-for-pleasure industry
that seeks to grab a share of the nearly $2 billion tourism business in Sonoma
Valley with events like this.
"What we're beginning is melding cannabis with
wine and food in a curated meal that offers the best of all worlds," says
Edwards.
Cannabis entrepreneurs are pairing food and
marijuana to create dining experiences much like the ones found at Northern
California wineries.
Courtesy of Sonoma Cannabis Company/ Kristen Jeanne
Recreational marijuana is now legal in eight states
and the District of Colombia.
But the prize is California, where American cannabis
has the deepest historical, cultural and agronomic roots. California was the
first state to legalize medical marijuana 21 years ago; in November, voters
gave the green light to cannabis for fun.
Northern California's legendary Emerald Triangle of
Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties produces some of the world's most
sought-after pot.
As it happens, just south of the Triangle lie the
state's famed wine-growing counties of Sonoma and Napa.
"I think that the wine industry is going to
really want to be part of the cannabis industry, because I feel like there's
probably a secure future in that," says Domi Heckei, a 32-year-old special
education teacher who attended the wine-and-weed dinner.
While cannabis people are excited to co-market with
wine, wine people are taking a wait-and-see approach. Few of the wine trade
associations contacted for this story wanted to comment on the coming of
cannabis. One longtime Sonoma winemaker acknowledged "a certain level of
apprehension" among his peers.
Erin Gore markets cannabis-infused confections for
women, under the name Garden Society. She married into a family of grape
growers, and this is her take on why those in Sonoma County may be
apprehensive:
"Going down (U.S. Highway) 101 are ... all the
vineyards going to get ripped out and it's only going to be pot? How bad is it
going to smell? A big thing is, everyone's going to get robbed. A lot of people
are worried about marijuana-stoned driving."
In fact, Sonoma is already struggling to accommodate
its 469 wineries. Though wine tourism is the lifeblood of the economy,
residents complain about the endless special events at wineries, the congested
roads and tipsy drivers. Adding cannabis to the mix just heightens those
concerns.
"We have some challenges, some cumulative
impacts from wineries and tasting rooms," says First District County
Supervisor Susan Gorin. "And now here comes cannabis."
Oregon, where recreational pot has been legal for
two years, has had some cross-pollination between wine and cannabis, but the
big experiment is here on the north coast of California.
Sonoma County expects so many applications for
cannabis land-use permits that it has hired 14 additional regulators. There are
rules for groundwater management, mandatory use of renewable energy, setbacks
from highways and schools, and requirements for elaborate security plans.
"Without a shadow of a doubt, cannabis is going
to be the most difficult crop to grow in Sonoma County," says Fifth
District County Supervisor Lynda Hopkins.
The vineyards own all the good land, and no one
knows if they'll want to expand into cannabis cultivation, as a handful have
done in Oregon.
Tom Rodrigues, who owns Maple Creek Winery in the
hills of neighboring Mendocino County, is bullish on the regulated commercial
cannabis market. Rodrigues sits on two advisory boards — one for cannabis, one
for wine.
Tom Rodrigues, owner of Maple Creek Winery in
Mendocino County, thinks wine and weed will make a good marriage. He says
visitors to his tasting room are starting to ask where they can get some
cannabis.
John Burnett/NPR
He says he grows pot for personal use, but has no
plans to slap the Maple Creek label on the green, resinous buds.
"My first passion is the wine," he says.
"If the laws were different I could grow (cannabis) because I have 164
acres here. But I would have to move my tasting room off the property, because
the law is that you cannot be selling alcohol and growing cannabis on the same
property."
In terms of the market, Rodrigues thinks fine wine
drinkers are a natural clientele for Emerald Triangle cannabis.
"I speak to people every day here in the
tasting room and people want to know about it. It's no longer hush-hush. 'I'm
from Iowa, I've heard Mendocino County has great cannabis. Where can I get
some?' " Rodrigues says.
They'll have to wait until Jan. 1. That's when
retail recreational marijuana opens for business in California.
At a wine and weed dinner held at a Northern
California winery, the offerings on an hors d'oeuvres table include cannabis
lemonade.
John Burnett/NPR
A preview was available at the recent Cannabis
Business Summit & Expo down the highway in Oakland. Vendors were there
hawking the latest in cannabis farm security, insurance, fertilizers, grow
lights, potting soils and consumables.
Humberto Torres is the COO of GFarma Labs, a company
that infuses chocolates and lemonades, as well as sells marijuana bud.
In Sonoma County, the talk is all about the marriage
of wine and cannabis, but at the trade show, Torres sees alcohol as the
competition. "Instead of coming home and pouring myself a glass of
chardonnay," he says, "I'd make a (cannabis) tea, 2 ½ milligrams, and
take that and try to take the edge off."
The two industries will come together next month for
the first time at the Wine & Weed Symposium in the city of Santa Rosa to
explore cooperation and competition.
What will north coast tourists be looking for: a
wine with notes of berry, leather, and a hint of quince or a joint that
delivers a calming body buzz with a cerebral creative boost — or
both?
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