California Vineyard Sold and Being Replanted with Weed?!?

Berserkers,

This is disgusting. Is this really the way the world is going? Losing pristine vineyards to goddamned weed producers? Is wine really that unprofitable? Or are there far more self-medicators and gateway drug users than social drinkers out there than I realize?

The gall of this being good for the area really gets me. Can we cut the crap and stop pretending that a cannabis grower counts as some type of farmer? Grapes are food. Wine is food. Cannabis is a drug. I hate that this might actually become a thing. God I hope this never happens in the Niagara wine region up north here.

From what I’ve heard, MUCH more profitable (and easy) to grow weed than grapes. Maybe some grape farmers will start growing cannabis as cover crop

Spare us the hysteria. Alcohol is a drug with far greater potential to damage health and lives if abused. The voters of the state of California made their choice on legalization.

^well said

This is great news, Tran. I loved those early Fetzer Zins from off that property because of the RedwoodVlly terroir they showed. I can hardly
wait because I’m sure their pot will display the same terroir those early Fetzers showed !!!

If that original Fetzer vnyd has the original vines that BarneyFetzer planted, then I’d be a bit upset. But, has the Fetzer brand morphed over the yrs, I tend to doubt that was the case.
Tom

Think how many people are killed each year from “over eating” and driving. Do you consider a tobacco farmer a farmer?

Calm down. Ross hit the nail on the head.

I hardly (read NEVER) get into pissing matches on this board, but this post is a bit ultra conservative and not the right place for it. “Disgusting,” “gateway users” and “self medicators”? Do you actually know of anyone who genuinely needs marijuana for medical issues? I suspect not.

If you’re lamenting losing a vineyard you love – we are here for you. If you want to use this board to express your opinion of what is and isnt a drug, and what is and isnt good for society, please refrain from it. And if you want to get into the science of what alcohol does to the body, vs. what marijuana does to do the body, I’d be happy to send you some literature to read. But this isnt the place.

Sincerely
Seo

Yes. Any assertion otherwise would be laughable.

The “influx of potentially seedy visitors” just struck me as very funny. Cue the Cheech and Chong…

You know what could help you control those hysterical reactions?

POTT (no acronym-pun intended)

Alcohol IS classified in the entire country as a drug. So is cannabis. One happens to be legal in all states, one in a handful. I agree, however (as one who voted for its legalization here in CA), that alcohol is a FAR more dangerous drug. Not even close.

I think this will continue to happen, as cannabis is more profitable and there are already (probably) too many wineries as it is. I’m not convinced, however, that there’s a supply glut that is needing filling in California, so hopefully not TOO many try their hand at it.

Tom, that influx is a tide the locals will have to stem, lest they just get rolled over.

Thank you.

After thanking Ross, we can move on to this hilarious bit of “sky is falling.”

Questions:

“Pristine vineyards?” You mean as God and nature put them there?

You aren’t upset about clearing natural grassland and woodlands for vineyards and the net loss of carbon sink value?

So, there is recreational alcohol use but no recreation weed use? I ask because I am curious about where your lines are drawn. (I say that as someone who is pot abstinent.)

To quote the original authority on this: Genesis 1:29: Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.”

You gots a problem with that?

Is Stan" Kroenke a farmer?

Francis Coppola? Les Claypool? Gérard Depardieu? Etc?

Otto the pot expert is as much a farmer as any dilettante celebrity or rich person with a vanity project, I’d say.

Go edit genesis and get back to us.

interesting to see the nearly-full support of the replacement of wine grapes for weed on a wine forum!

Especially seeing all the glowing TNs here about Redwood Valley Wines from the old Fetzer property.

Not from me. Forget the argument about drug vs. alcohol, legality, etc., etc. For me, wine is more of a food product than a mind-altering substance. I don’t drink wine to get drunk, it’s actually just the opposite - I do my best to avoid becoming intoxicated while enjoying wine for all it’s other attributes. I’m sure some will argue, but smoking dope is pretty much for one purpose only: to get stoned, or at very least to a mind altered state.

No one ages weed for 20 years to see how it develops. There’s no equivalent of an winemaker taking the MJ grower’s product and working with it for months or years to turn it into something completely different that can be enjoyed for years to come.

The writing is on the wall, weed is (for now, until there is an oversupply) a much easier crop to grow, and much more profitable than wine grapes. So no one should be surprised that some vineyard land is going to be turned to cannabis, and probably a lot of it over the next few years. But from the perspective of the romance of wine, I don’t think anyone could argue this is kind of sad.

Beckstoffer Toke Along?

Mondavi wowie

Todd -

my guess it was more of a reaction to tone of OP note. I generally am a little saddened to hear about some vineyard with history is pulled to be replaced with anything (its generally housing, at least in instances i am familiar with). But that was not my reaction to original post