The wine was pale garnet, with notes of smoke and blackberry giving way to a lingering, slightly tart, finish. One sip sent my head spinning.
But then this particular vintage was more potent than your usual Californian red. The grenache, from Know Label wines in Arroyo Grande on the central coast, is infused with cannabis flowers.
Plastic cups of wine were passed around along with joints as our party bus chugged over the Golden Gate bridge. Tupac’s California Love oozed from the speakers into an atmosphere as foggy as a San Francisco morning.
It was the first tour combining wine and weed in California, and the brainchild of Heidi Keyes and Michael Eymer, who run Colorado-based Cannabis Tours. This tour will officially launch in early 2018, when recreational cannabis use becomes legal in many areas of the state. Until then, a medical marijuana card is needed. But the new law means even international visitors will be able to buy cannabis, opening up a new world of tourism possibilities.
“There are so many other ways to use cannabis than to smoke it,” said Keyes, marijuana-leaf earrings jangling. “I think wine and weed can be a great combination in the right quantities.”