Reefer Madness Hits California Wine Country

Take note, wine tasters. It's time to add another scent to your aroma wheel: weed.

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California has long been known for its robust wines. And now the state’s winemakers are surpassing themselves by lacing their cuvées with marijuana and offering it to their friends. “It had a pungent herbal aroma that called to mind a college dormitory on a Saturday night,” writes Michael Steinberger in the The Daily Beast. Might we suggest a pairing with pot brownies?

For some, weed’s skunk-like stench might not be the sort of bouquet they’re looking for when they jam their nose in a wine glass. But for some California vintners, it’s a mark of distinction: “the only truly original style of wine created in the New World,” said one winemaker.

What’s the recipe? Add a pound of marijuana to a cask of wine. Ferment for nine months. You’re done.

Pot wine is no new phenomenon, though in the old days (the ‘80s), weed was typically blended with rosé. Now, vintners prefer to mix it with heavyweights like cabernet and syrah. It might just be the perfect way to capture the terroir of the region, home to some of the finest pot-growing sheds in the country. At the least it gives enhanced meaning to the term “drunk munchies.”

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