You could be doing that real soon on the north coast of California, in Mendicino County where rivers meet, and redwood forests, vineyards, and marijuana plantations bloom. The noble weed contributes one-third of the economy thanks to the Mediterranean climate, and it is generally a good place to be.
The locals have been protecting wine brands with appellations like Caymus Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon for decades. Stop the Drug War just let slip that you could be savoring the likes of a nice 2014 South Mendocino County Sour Diesel in your pipe up there too. No. this is not a joke, this is for real.
The country with the famous ‘Skunk Train’ steam loco connecting Willits and Fort Bragg through forests alongside Pudding Creek and the Noyo River, has hit on the idea of preserving its marijuana brand in likewise fashion. It plans on designating denominations of origin, and policing these to preserve famous cannabis brands that have been the delight of pot epicureans for decades.
Local lawyer Richard Mendelson is assisting by applying his expert knowledge on vineyard and wine law to rolling out the marijuana appellations, and related land use, intellectual property, business, and administrative law concerns. He explained to Stop the Drug War how ‘you have a product coming out of prohibition … marijuana growers are caught in a very difficult situation … even though it’s legal at the state level, it’s not legal at the federal level [yet].’
The fledgling appellation panel has penciled in the following Mendicino County marijuana origins: Comptche, Covelo-Dos Rios, Long Valley-Branscomb-Leggett, Mendocino Coast, Mountainhouse South Mendocino County, North Mendocino Coast, Potter Valley, South Anderson Valley South Mendocino, Spyrock-Bell Springs, Ukiah Valley, and Willits.
Issues still under consideration by the committee of cannabis connoisseurs include:
– Whether to break Mendocino Country down into more distinct regions
– What environmental and other quality standards to impose for inclusion
– The diverting question of whether ‘terroir’ includes a pot on a windowsill
– Whether a crop grown with hydroponics bears any relation to it at all
We have no doubt these heady issues will delight consumers, and spread the news of Mendocino marijuana widely. We will continue to report on this, and other snippets of interesting information, as California shrugs off the final vestiges of prohibition, and jousts for the position of cannabis capital of the world.