Many Dutch-Smart visitors can be described as true bon vivants. We do enjoy a bit of cannabis from time to time (or even every night!), and most of us are also happy to have a nice glass of wine. But what if you combine the two? That’s exactly what a 28-year-old winemaker from Bordeaux has decided to do. Raphael de Pablo says he wants to break with the traditional norms in his field.
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Tasty cannabis wine
We’re hearing more and more about products that contain elements of the cannabis plant. Now that applies to wine as well. The Burdi W, as the wine is called, stands for Burdigala Weed. It’s the first French wine ever to be blended with cannabis. According to the makers, it is a “flavored wine beverage,” made from a cuvée of Petit Verdot from the vineyards of Bordeaux. The project is the brainchild of two entrepreneurs, including Raphaël de Pablo, who also runs an organic hemp field in the Gironde.
The wine will be marketed primarily online, targeting both people unfamiliar with cannabis and those who want to introduce the plant to their loved ones. Incidentally, the wine contains no THC, but rather CBD: a molecule from the cannabis plant that is permitted in France because it has no psychoactive effects.
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A Trip to Germany
But it’s not as simple as just adding some CBD. The hemp must first be sent to a German laboratory—not because CBD is banned in France, but because processing the leaves and flowers of the hemp plant is not permitted there. This is a bit of a paradox, since the European Court of Justice ruled just last year that CBD had been wrongfully banned in France as a narcotic.
It should also be noted that the product cannot officially be called wine, but is classified as a “flavored wine drink.” According to the company, the CBD gives it a very “interesting flavor.” Each bottle contains about 250 mg of CBD.
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Secret recipe
De Pablo keeps the recipe a secret, mainly out of fear of competition. The region is teeming with winemakers who might be tempted to add similar ingredients to their wine. However, the available quantity and price are not yet very competitive: there are 10,500 bottles, each costing 34 euros.
