I came across a blog recently, amustreadblog.com, written by Toronto sommelier Debbie Gordon. She has a lot of great insights about wine from Canada and around the world, and I enjoyed her profile of a man I’d never heard of – Anthony von Mandl – who heads up some of British Columbia’s leading wineries, including Mission Hill.

But before producing award-winning wines that have won honours around the world, Anthony gave the world a much humbler beverage that made him a fortune: Mike’s Hard Lemonade. I realized that there are a lot of different personalities in the wine world, and a lot of different paths to the top.

Then another blog entry caught my eye that reaffirmed the “different personalities” viewpoint – cannabis-infused wine.

Yes, a California winery, Rebel Coast, is marketing Marijuana Infused Sauvignon Blanc. California laws don’t allow alcohol and THC to mix, so the weed takes priority, with 16mg THC and 0.5% alcohol. As Gordon notes, “you may get high but you definitely won’t get drunk.”

I don’t know about you but as an Ontario resident, I’m still getting used to seeing bottles of beer in my local No Frills, let alone weed-infused wine. But as legalization of cannabis comes to Canada, we’re going to be seeing a lot of things that we’ve never seen before. Weed wine may be one of them.

So, what does it taste like? Gordon attended a tasting and gave this description.

“I think it’s fair to say the blend is aromatically unique from the Sauvignon Blanc I’m accustomed to. I smell citrus, hops and something else … Ragweed?  It’s herbal. I tweet “grass” since I don’t want to offend. On the palate? I’m getting something akin to Mello Yello and aging asparagus. Also, higher acidity and rustic, savoury, herb-de-Provence flavours. “Notes of freshly picked pot,” the millennial to my right, knowingly adds.”

I don’t know about you, but I’ll likely be sticking to my inexpensive THC-free house wine.

Thank you for reading,
Ian Hull