You are welcome to bid higher, to buy the place and preserve its current vineyard.
By the way, I am not a fan of marijuana.
I think that there are multiple ways of looking at this, and it’s very easy - and apparently so as shown on this thread in both directions - to make knee jerk reactions to something like this.
I’ve been told there have been countless farms and endless pastures sold up in Oregon in the past few years since legalization happened - and many of these deals are for cash and for higher than the asking price. I know folks who hoped to do organic farming of vegetables but were not able to ‘outbid’ folks who were going to grow weed.
I do believe that you’ll see more of this moving forward - not sure about vineyards but definitely other crop fields. It will become a simple economic situation - just as it’s been for vineyards and other places to be sold and turned into housing in the past (and still continuing today).
But let’s not jump to any conclusion regarding whether alcohol is more ‘dangerous’ then weed is for now. I’ve had this discussion with others, and it’s so easy to jump to conclusions. What we have not see thus far are the new strains that are already being developed that are ‘stronger’ than previous ones - and now that legalization has taken place, big money will be jumping in. Whether it be in smoked form or, most likely, in edible form, things are about to change and one can’t look at past research as indicative of what may be coming.
Yes, those who abuse alcohol are dangerous not only to themselves but to others. And yes, folks are more likely to get aggressive when drunk then when stoned. But let’s not kid ourselves to think that pot does not affect ones senses - and decision making processes.
And this is not a liberal or conservative thing - not at all.
Carry on . . .
Ignoring the politics of this and just speaking agriculturally…
As far as I am aware, weed and wine grapevines have completely different soil requirements to be successfully cultivated. Cannabis is a plant that should have typical agricultural topsoil, rich in nutrients. Wine soil should promote deep root growth which would preclude typical topsoil. I don’t see how weed would be a profitable replacement for grapevines unless the soil was already unsuitable for quality wine.
Ditto
And I agree about the tone of the OP - a little ‘hysterical’ to me as well.
Cheers.
Fetzer. I said Fetzer. Honestly, Fetzer. I don’t want to hear the “Well back in the '70s…” argument either. In this country you produce or you step aside.
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.
Come on Alan I don’t want to uee the word ignorant because we are friends, but really? I know people personally who cannot function normally without marijuana. I have one customer in particular, a shop owner, whose specialty is automotive electronics diagnosis and repair. He has continuous pain from a motorcycle wreck he was in as a youth. He smokes pot every day, about every couple of hours, just to control the pain. He is neither stoned nor altered as he needs his wits in order to properly repair modern vehicles that use fiberoptics to allow dozens of onboard computers to interact. I take one hit and I’m curled up in the corner.
BTW, how many notes do you have on alcohol free wines?
I’m going to stick my neck out here and say that there are just as many, if not more, connoisseurs of high grade cannabis, than wine. Ive lived and been a farmer(vegetables for ten years, than grapes for 17) in Humboldt County for 27 years now. This counties major economic base is high quality cannabis. I know hundreds of very serious cannabis farmers who obsess over their craft every bit as much as most grape growers. Just like grapes, there are many different varieties. The unpolinated flowers can take on every fruit and spice component you can think of(like wine and coffee). If grown, cured and stored properly they exhibit complex and beautiful aromas and flavors. Does cannabis express terrior? It sure does. You can take the same strain of cannabis and grow it in different soils and areas and get just as much variation as any wine grape. The parallels between the two are endless. The process of growing, curing, processing and storing cannabis is nearly identical to wine. From exactly when to pick it, to how it is prepared for drying, the temperatures, humidity, length of time to dry, oxygen levels, etc. To say that it is not every bit as complex and interesting as wine is just not accurate.
I wouldn’t worry about fine coastal Pinot noir vineyards or Napa’s finest Cabernet vineyards being ripped up for cannabis production. There is plenty of suitable agriculture land to grow it that it won’t compete with winegrapes.
I personally am excited to see these two industries coexist. They have the potential to seriously compliment each other. Cannabis tourism will be every bit as big and profitable as wine tourism. The amount of revenue the state of Ca. is going to generate in tax dollars alone will be staggering. Just look at what is happening in Co.
Cannabis is the number one agricultural cash crop in CA. It has been for a while now. Legalization will allow all these artisan growers to not only come out of the shadows, but become legitimate, pay there fair share of taxes and fees like any other business, and provide much needed regulation to a business that has been underground for far too long.
^^goodposting^^
This isn’t the right place for the discussion, so I’ll just say I’m pretty sure for every automotive mechanic smoking to control his pain, there are probably 100 others like you (and me) curled up in the corner 
The one comment I’ll make is that if your friend finds some benefit from smoking, the real travesty is that medical research hasn’t been allowed to find out what it is that is really benefiting him, so he has to resort to inhaling the smoke from a burning plant - something we have known for years is very hazardous to your health.
But they’ve all got marijuana cards signed off by legitimate doctors. ![[wink.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/0/04707e6a7bbb03e0153e349d8a9270d30e1e9525.gif "wink"){kind=small}
Look, California, like most of America, was built upon the idea of capitalism and that people can do whatever-the-hell with their land if it is legal, so no reason to get your tighty whities up. Besides, we replaced semi-nomadic hunters-and-gatherers with a materialistic ethos on this continent long before folks started creating wineries. A winery or vineyard is not sacred space, but I can see wanting to preserve them.
I think a larger problem for vineyards is going to be competition for workers, not for land. Which would you rather pick?
The labor supply may be shrinking, for a number of reasons.
P Hickner
Blasphemy! Move to put Markus on probation until he repents ![[wow.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/7/7d450e9830889c8943b674446a21b7254cad657e.gif "wow"){kind=small}
I agree. This state is going to need a lot more farm workers to supply labor for both of these industries.
I would imagine warehouse space may become more valuable. From what I’ve read, the very best weed is grown indoors. Control of light, temperature and other supplements. Plants like carbon dioxide. LED lighting must be helping.
Weed that is processed into products use outdoor weed I would assume. But, the price of weed is dropping and will continue. Remember, people in California can individually grow 6 plants- I wish I could produce good wine as easy.
Those vineyards at the Fetzer estate have mostly been abandoned for years. So don’t get too jacked thinking some primo old vines are coming out to grow the devil’s lettuce.
If anyone wants to see some of the really cool things that can be done with cannabis and cooking, you should watch “Bong Appetit” on the Viceland Channel. I get it on Dish. It’s probably available on DTV or Comcast.
And just to show this post is wine related, and as a big bonus, the first episode included Pax Mahle (Windgap Wines) showing how he makes cannabis infused wine! Really great stuff and I got some fantastic ideas of different ways to cook with cannabis and extracts of cannabis.
https://www.viceland.com/en_us/video/molecular-marijuana/5848830b7d3c36935920d070
there are people who smoke weed that don’t get high? That seems superhuman.