WEED AND WINE - BLUE MEANIE STRAIN AND SOLO CONTIIGO MALBEC - FLAVOR HEAVEN!

When intellectuals think of little, fuzzy, blue nuggets, what can often come to mind is the frightening image of (rotten to the core) Trump Senior Advisor, Stephen Miller.  Short, fuzzy in the pelo , ugly and blueing from a lack of earthly oxygen after his rise from purgatory and wishing so badly that people would feel sorry for him - much like every demon coward that belongs to the Donald Trump team - the devil is here.  He is operative.  He is so effective at gluing on a false, soft, yet warmly endomorphic, insecurely balding and cowardly cozy image of himself as he tries to act cute and cuddly for the world....batting his child-like eyes as they dew-up with wetness when he speaks his evil rhetoric, ....all the while as he separates infants from their mothers for months on end in prison cells and works to create great racial divide in our great nation.  No, no...this is not the blue nugget in these colorful pictures that im looking for....but his alien blue head, certainly, makes me want to smoke weed.....the blue im thinking of....and, oh, im thinking of something of a cut of Blue Cookies from a famous, unnamed gentleman up, the Mendo way crossed with Sonoma County's finest Sour Diesel and, then, blended into one of the finest OG Kush strains the world has ever seen.....Im thinking of Blue Meanie.  One of the new great powerhouse strains of the future.

Yes, please say hello to Blue Meanie.  No, there isn't really much good to say about racist, Stephen Miller...nor is there much of insight from his insecure and small-dicked boss, Donald Trump.  But in Blue Meanie, there is gold....cannabis gold....giant blue and gold and yellow hues with layers of blue bands and purple frosted ribbons that extend into the stanky core of each fuzzy nugget....perfumed and exotic bouquets hastily lofting into our eager olfactories. Cracking apart these blue nuggets with vigor in curiousity, more notes of fresh, crushed blueberries backed by hints of Manchego cheese and a little bit of fuel from your dusty, mountaineering four wheeler as it rises above the American mediocrity, the politics that dictates it, and the stupid human being running our great nation. Blue is the Meanie.....and blue is our soul, but only for now.  Let's get high.....
To warm our insides, then, we must reach into our hearts and seek, in wine glass, the blood of Jesus(lol) or more realistically known as, fine red wine.  What would pair with such a gorgeous, blue-fruit strain as this Blue Meanie?  MALBEC. Malbec is the varietal that really shines in my mind as the one grape that exudes notes of blueberry fruit - quite typical, in fact, of many of the great Argentine Malbecs made with our neighbors down below.   My choice?  Solo Contigo is a wonderful expression of what is, both, great and typical of the stellar Argentine Malbec industry. For more on Malbec, what it is and where it came from, Visit Vine and Barrel Fine Wines in Betaluma, California...heartful knowledge and a love for libations.....(707)765-1112.  www.vineandbarrel.com

This one is easy - 2014 Solo Contigo Malbec....they call it, the Affaire.  It hails from Mendoza, Argentina.  Solo Contigo translates to, "only with you" and, really, defines the social nature of this wine - what wine is good for - and how much more fun it can be if you smoke some cannabis with it(*NEVER END A SENTENCE WITH A PREPOSITION*)  .  It is so good that is made to share with all your friends....and each and every loving person you share with, this wine, will be as thankful as a giant fruit bat that hath broken into a Del Monte canning facility.
At just 13.9% alcohol, these grapes hail from high elevations in the towering Andes.  It is round like Rush Limbaugh with soft tannins......notes of blue, crushed velvety fruit - just as tropical blue burning bowl smoldering with tails of ghostly blue berries that rise from the carbonized crater of your teak wood-carved pipe that you stole from Elves after you raided Sargon's gold, the last time you dared venture into the mountain.
When I, first, tug at this bud and tear off a bowl, it smells of blueberry muffins that rise into my olfactory with pleasant thoughts of being in my grandmother's fragrant kitchen as a young boy teeming with curiousity at the tender age of five.  ....and while the lovely and seductive fruit is there, what follows is a strong reminder - almost a redneckish barnyard note - that this weed has some kick and is has a serious backbone of fuel tanks filled to the rim in stealth jet fighters. This it receives from its ancient and original genetics of the California classic and game-changer, Chemdog.  If you don;t know what this is...what this means....then, start pressing those little, pointy, robotic, mind-controlling buttons and on your Iphone and do some research....KNOW WHAT IS IN YOUR BOWL...... even if you have to discover this HIGHLY (no pun intended) information on the very, evil device that marks, in chronology, the time of technological advance that signifies the speedy

end of the human race. Just ask my kids - they fall asleep with them on their chests at night......#Nofuckingthanks....ill be smoking weed when they release the drones...

For all of you cultural and culinary enthusiasts - swimmers of summery sangria, pilots of the pleasurable purple, bombers of bowling.. these two manipulations of organic nature can go swimmingly, together.  Bring them, both Blue Meanie and Solo Contigo Malbec, to a friend's barbecue, this weekend and share while enjoying steak and grilled veggies off the charcoal barbie.  Fruity and earthy, Blue Meanie OG and Solo Contigo Malbec will render you the hero of the best house party.  So, grab a chair and enjoy...and don't drive....  - and, please, save us from the evil, Stehen Miller and his dark(but very stupid) dOnAlD tRuMp....where did you go, God?....we need her....

WEED AND WINE
VINE AND BARREL, LLC
113 PETALUMA BLVD NORTH
PETALUMA, CA 94952
(707) 765-1112
 

WEED AND WINE PAIRING - FOGBERRY STRAIN AND 2016 BECKMEN CUVEE LE BEC

With all the new strains in the world, I knew there just had to exist, out there, a gem in the quandary that is now legal cannabis. In all my searching, there is no weed that I have come across that is finer than my new friend, Fogberry.  Fogberry, the Sonoma County lovechild of two old, Petaluma weed farmers, is quite simply, the neatest thing i've seen or smoked. 

With genetics reaching back and into old, Afghan blackberry strains and then crossed with a very special cut of pink panties aligned with Blue Mazar and Cherry Cola, this is a beast, truly, to be reckoned with. The two, mindful growers(names withheld due to right-wing racist, Jeff Sessions concerns) decided they wanted to come up with something special - a conglomeration of flavors......something to hit hard with - super fruity and super fuely, all, encased in a flower that was truly beautiful. 
To accomplish this feat, the two got together three years ago. One of them brought his very best OG Kush to our dear friend's farm where they crossed it with his very best Sour Diesel.....then, the crafty pair combined this with all the blue and cola genetics(they wont let me say anymore)......and OMG.....it really is that amazing!
Light purple and pink colors - even streaks of cherry red, throughout, with wisps of red hair and a frosty coating of crystals and shiny trichomes blanket each nugget.  So very beautiful.....I just had to light it on fire.....
One burning bowl presented me with an even deeper sense of the berry and vine fruit smell...blackberries, raspberries.....flavors of pineapple....even, curiously, nectarines......all backed by that Sour Diesel fuel.  So delicious....like finding a new candy that you love in the candy store as a kid.
The smoke was long and creamy and I was soon blanketed by a general sense of comfort, erasing the day now behind me, away forever.
With all the different blends of cannabis genetics - they tell me 8 different countries worth, I was pressed to think of a wine of such great blending and flavor that it would match such a fine cannabis strain as FOGBERRY.
While combing the cavernous walls of wine at Vine and Barrel, I was logically pulled to the 2016 Beckmen Cuvee Le Bec.  How could I forget one of the most gorgeous and affordable blends made in our great state, California - down the central coast way?
The Beckmen Cuvee has it all - vampirical dark berry notes followed by chewy, juicy, bing cherry fruit.....and a white pepper note like mother nature stirred her spicy finger in my glass. With sultry silk at the finish, it makes for a perfect pairing for this beautiful, new strain, Fogberry.
In a layered, southern Rhone style, the Beckmen Cuvee Le Bec has four varietals that offers-up a contour of flavors for the curious palate.  It is a genius build of grenache, syrah, mouvedre, and a little-known grape, sometimes used, Counoise. Flavors range from grandma's fresh-baked pie to a pomegranate popsicle on a hot summer's day with hints of violets and lavender - so much going on....swirling, fruity flavors to chase a bowl of some of the best weed I've ever tasted.

WEED AND WINE REVIEW - WONDER WOMAN STRAIN AND TRENTADUE SAUVIGNON BLANC

Wonder Woman is a gorgeous and bright, white, blue, and yellow marijuana strain that grows well indoors and out.  It is beautiful, yet, has pungent

and pronounced flavors that are attractive to any connoisseur. 
Generations of fine skunk phenotypes like those found in Wonder Woman have stood-out over the last 30 years in American cannabis culture.  What is lovely about them is the pungent, sweet flavors and notes that come forth with each new trait, generation after generation.  We love the stink, the smell....it is a natural attractant for the human nose.....many critics love to discuss the hints of, yes, even goat piss they find in fine cheeses, weeds, and eclectic white wines.
Today, Skunk Strains are blended and crossed into many of the most notable kinds of weed we can find. They are floral and sweet can be a nice addition the medicinal notes of some of the more "chemmy" OG lines, they can of often be added to soften some of the deep red and brown strains from far away lands, and/or to enhance and lighten those strains that reign in the purple, blue, and black of all that is great, cannabis.
One of my favorite strains, this Wonderful Woman of which I mention, is built with some ancient skunk genetics that are built into the Top 44 Strain (crossed with Viking strain) that lay down half the genetics for this beauty. The other half of the genetics are from a strain named, ICE - which also harbors Skunk genetics mixed with a little Afghani, Northern Lights, and Shiva.
It is the funk and sweet notes in these genetics - the slight of musty and skunky fruit in Wonder Woman, that drew me to my newest wine pairing with the wonderful, Trentadue Sauvignon Blanc.  Here, little touch of green mango is introduced to the olfactory followed by the sweet smell of must and skunk. 
Well, golly-gee....it's time to take a hit.....of Wonder Woman and chase it down with a fine wine pairing. How about a wine that is crisp and cool ....a wine like Trentadue Sauvignon Blanc?
The Trentadue Bellacana Vineyard Sauvignon Blanc from Alexander Valley produces some of the finest white wine in Northern California.  Stewed peaches and baked apricots, abound......a touch of green mango and seared pineapple....and your senses are washed in tropical love.  What a wonderful pairing made right here in this great land...home to the finest wine....and the finest weed.
You can purchase Trentadue Bellacana Sauvignon Blanc at Vine and Barrel Wines in Petaluma, Ca.

WEED AND WINE REVIEW - Blue Frost Strain paired with Valcantara Grenache

Blue Frost is a lovely, hybrid strain with genetics that derive from the Blue Monster and Jack Frost Strains.  It is a 60/40 Indica Dominant blend that brings a clean breeze of strong blue fruit and long, deep and ancient forest notes to the olfactory.  It has a clean smell - like fresh, mountain air and a blue, ocean breeze that gives it incredible appeal for the senses and, simply, fills the room with a most pleasant aroma.
With all the wonderful flavors taking center stage, there is nothing lost on the appearance with this gorgeous weed.  It is soft and almost has playdough, earthy feel to it as it is moist and dense with varying blue tones, throughout.  Creamy streaks of very light  purples, blues, violet and soft green lengths of compact bud fill in these round nugs of  pungence to make, what I call, "nuggie goodness."
Flavors are definitely comprised of berry tones ranging from sweet loganberry to mountain blueberry with a kick of old OG pungency backed by a subtle hint of baked cheese - almost like cheese whiz. Now, where this may sound weird, I can tell you that if you love your grandma's cooking, cheesy custard and fruit desserts coming straight from the oven are supreme treat not to be missed....and there is a lovely taste of sweet dessert with every bowl you smoke.
Physically, there is a huge, comforting affect from smoking Blue Frost with just enough of a sativa influence to keep you awake and kicking.  Although sedative, the comfortable experience in smoking this weed will leave you attentive enough to enjoy a good film or even sweat it out on a bike ride - or, even better, sit and pair with a nice glass of wine.
My wine pairing choice for this lovely herb?  A little, Spanish Grenache, anyone?
Valcantara Grenache from Carinena is one of the finest easy-to-grab and inexpensive lovely little red wines under $10.  It is juicy and deep with color and the velvet and blue fruit notes pair, swimmingly, with the Blue Frost Strain.
Enjoy a bowl of this lovely herb....take a smooth hit of the creamy blue fruit....and put your nose into your wine.  The fruit notes collide with what lingers in your senses from the weed.  You can taste the forest floor.....the deep berry. The wine seems to clean your palette and enhances the flavors and experience of the smoke.  This makes for a fine finish to any work day.
Valcantara Grenache can be found, on the shelves, at Vine and Barrel Wine Shop and Wine Bar.  113 Petaluma Boulevard North, in the glorious, Petaluma, California.....home to some of the finest weed and wine in the entire world.

STRAWBERRY BANANA STRAIN PAIRED WITH SASSETTI PROSECCO

What inspires millions of people around the world, each year, to fill their glasses and toast high into the air in celebration of the new year?  Bubbles, otherwise known to the ultra-super-elitist Bourgeois as Champagne or Prosecco from Italy, is the most lovely of holiday treats.

Champagne hails, originally, from Champagne, France, but its techniques in wine making go even further back some, 6000 years to former Soviet, Georgia.  Prosecco, Champagne's Italian cousin, is made from and in nine provinces in Italy ranging from the Veneto to Fruili.  In it, there are used, some, nine different varietals that comprise this bubbly goodness that pairs so swimmingly with the latest cannabis strain that I have recently procured.

For my Strawberry Banana Cannabis and Prosecco Review, I have paired this weed with the Sassetti Prosecco Colle Sargento Superior Brut from Valdobbiadene, Italy. Crisp with fine, dry bubbles, this prosecco has a note of, yes, green apple notes, of course, but also has a hint of fresh-picked, young bananas and dry,  mountain, strawberry fruit.  This is a match made in New Year's heaven.

In my Weed and Wine pairing, finding obvious and prominent mountain strawberry fruit notes and hint of banana is exactly what the doctor ordered in this flavor prescription in the strawberry/banana cannabis strain.  The strawberry/banana strain is predominantly indica (70%) with (30%) sativa and has these simply delightful scents of freshly peeled, young and creamy banana(yep, i wrote it - lol) backed by a warm, red berry fruit that reminds of being a kid and finding my first favorite flavors of candy. It is a heavy-hitter that can certainly leave you couch-locked but has just enough sativa for the new year's party scene to keep you super comfortable with a big glass of Sassetti Prosecco well past the midnight hour.  Sassetti Prosecco can be found at your finer boutique wine shops and is a feature on the shelves at Vine and Barrel - 113 Petaluma Blvd North in amazing, Petaluma, California.

Pair these gorgeous holiday treats with fine cheeses or desserts for new year's holiday or toast them high in the air.....double-fisting with doobie in one hand, your Prosecco in the other! It is legal, now!  Do not drink or smoke and drive and enjoy yourself with each of these treats, this holiday season.  HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

WEED AND WINE REVIEW - Girlscout Cookies(vaped) and 2014 Tapiz Malbec

What would the ancients of the Indus Valley say if they were enlightened to a future where the herb of the God's was offered from a small device much the same in size as the first plume used for the oldest cave drawings of the world?

Technology is quickly changing the world in which we live.  I will never end my pursuit of fine smoke to my lips, the smell, the flavors.....but I have been introduced to a vessel for THC and cannabinoid intake that has definitely got my attention - something that I will, certainly, be utilizing for when my work day has become just a little too much.  Let me introduce you to the the Natural Cannabis Company and their clever and technologically savvy, organic, disposable vape pen.

 Historically, when we think of vape pens, we think of the extraction process and the somewhat toxic chemicals used, therein.  This is no more.  With the Natural Cannabis Company's new vape pen, they are using a c02 extraction process with their organically-farmed marijuana to provide a clean and healthy product from start to finish - solvent free - with the finish being the gorgeous medicine you intake.  Heated within a proprietary ceramic heating element, and powered by a powerful lithium ion battery, this pen allows you to take as little or as large of a hit as you need! Within this vessel, 50-70 hits lay in wait for your medicinal pleasure. At just $30, it's a sweet deal!
This first round of Natural Cannabis Company's vapor pens that I am reviewing is made with Girlscout Cookies.  Girlscout cookies is an incredible, sativa-dominant hybrid genetically comprised of the infamous, OG Kush Strain, crossed with the legendary, Durban Poison.  OG Kush is a genetic cross between Chemdog and a Hindu Kush.  Durban Poison hails from South Africa and is a daytime, uplifting strain.
Within this vape pen, the frostiness of the weed translates into a smooth and creamy flavor experience unlike anything I have ever tasted.  Hints of incense and eastern spices rise into your olfactory and, then, the crazy fruit flavors come chasing each other down the brick road into your senses.  It is delicious.   The vapor is clean and clear.  The flavor, unbelievable.  What goes in on the intake of an average size hit is so smooth, even, glassy and soothing - dare i say, " even creamy?"
In pairing a fine wine with my smoke because, why not?....I would recommend visiting Vine and Barrel, Sonoma County's premiere bottle shop and wine bar, and grabbing a bottle of the 2014 Tapiz Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina.  From their Alta Collection, this hand-picked and estate fruit is grown at 1400 feet elevation in the Uco Valley where it receives wonderful, warm sun and, then, cools at night with its setting up at the perfect elevation.

The Tapiz Malbec has intense violet and purple colors with deep and lush blueberry fruit that pairs so perfectly with the fruit notes in the Girlscout Cookies.  Long and fulfilling, the balanced acidity cuts into what is left of the creamy vape smoke for a lovely match-up in the senses.  The finish?  Caressing and silky from the minimal use of oak that helps wash down the last of the remaining incense notes and light spice flavors leftover from the weed.
These Natural Cannabis Company Pens can be found at Organicann in, both, Santa Rosa and Oakland.  Tapiz Malbec is stacked on the retail floor and served at the wine bar at Vine and Barrel in Petaluma, California.  (707) 765-1112

WEED AND WINE - Martin Ranch Zinfandel paired with Blackberry Soda Cannabis

Vine and Barrel Fine Wines

Some of the biggest, most powerful, and rich flavors in wine come from one of California's premiere varietals which we know, today, as Zinfandel. In times of old, Zinfandel, or, Crljenak Kaštelanski - its' true name from Croatia, came to the United States from Italy where they, after stealing it from the Croatians, named it Primitivo.  When the "new" world was settled by Europeans, the Italians brought it over where it has taken root as zinfandel.

One of the finest representations of California's booming Zinfandel market, The JD Hurley selection from the Martin Ranch in Santa Clara, California, is a wine for any dinner table or patio barbecue.  Heavy fruit notes with gorgeous blueberry and loganberry extraction exude throughout the length of each sip of this wine.  Hints of cola and even a little fresh ground coffee, abound, followed by a little black pepper and a slight note of resin from an old college doobie, left on the kitchen table.  Long forgotten are the drier, more subtle fruit notes of the versions of this wine from Croatia and Italy.  Not to discount them - they are outstanding - just very different than ours. California Zinfandel is a big hitter and can reach over 15% in alcohol, no problem.  We have lots of sunshine.   Delectable notes of chewy black fruit and forest floor, a little sandalwood and wonderful acidity render this grape monster a classic and with all this sunshine, I am led to consider another fine product grown under our warm and giving climate:  Blackberry Soda Cannabis.

Pairing a fine cannabis with this beautiful wine was an easy choice. The Blackberry Soda strain lifts enticing, sensual and deep, aromatic blue and blackberry notes up your nose when you first get a whiff.  As you are enjoying the fruity sensation, little highlights of coffee and spice are to follow and the berry and cherry flavors from its' genetics, run deep.  Hints of earth and a faint note of ancient, RC Soda drying in a picnic can in the sun as you hold a nuggie up to your olfactory.  Blackberry Soda shares its roots in both Indica (80%) and Sativa (20%).  It is a cross between the rare, Plushberry and Blackberry Kush strains and harbors some seriously deep genetics.  THC in this dark and purple weed runs between 20-25% and is delicious.  This is a dark, rich production just as the Martin Ranch Zinfandel wine.  Fruity and long in depth with hints of grandma's ripe berry pie and yesterday's coffee grounds, this cannabis is stellar.

In pairing this two California treats, my food recommendation would, certainly be, smoky BBQ.  Whether you are a vegan or omnivore, some grilled veggies or BBQ spareribs would be a fine accompaniment after a pipe full of Blackberry Soda and big glass of Martin Ranch Zinfandel.

You can find Martin Ranch at Vine and Barrel Wines in Petaluma, California and Organicann, just north, in Santa Rosa where there is a steady supply of the lovely, Blackberry Soda Strain.