Photo by frimufilms
We’re officially into autumn. For some, it means back to school, football, and pumpkin spice lattes. For growers of both cannabis and grapes, it means it’s time to harvest.
An overlapping harvesting season is just one of the many similarities between weed and wine. But where do these two plants differ? To answer that question, we’re going to take a look at each plant’s harvesting process.
Seasonal Cycles
Each fall, these plants bear fruits. Harvest is the end-stage for cannabis plants. That’s because growers harvest the whole plant—not just its fruits—which means they must grow new plants each year. Grapes, however, are rooted so farmers pick them right off the vine. Since wine grape vines can produce fruit for decades, winegrowers don’t need to replant after harvest.
Another big difference is figuring out when to harvest. For cannabis farmers, trichomes are key. According to Leafly, trichomes are the micro-sized appendages on buds that appear as a blanket of frost. These trichomes produce cannabinoids, terpenes, and flavonoids that help give a cannabis plant its potency.
Growers can tell a plant is ripe once its trichomes turn milky white. They also pay attention to the hairy looking strands attached to the bud, also known as stigmas. They turn from white to orange as the plant ripens. According to Weedmaps, cannabis plants can take anywhere from seven to 12 weeks to reach maturity.
According to Cult Wine Investment, winegrowers key in on a number of factors to decide when to harvest. After varaison, the transition from small hard berries into grapes, the ripening process can take anywhere from 30 to 70 days.
While the taste buds of a seasoned veteran are always helpful, many wineries use equipment like a refractometer—a handheld device that measures a grape’s sugar levels—to test the ripeness of a given cluster. This is made possible by a small prism that shows how the grape’s juice interacts with light. Not all vines are created equal. Sparkling winemakers aim for more acidity while dessert wines require much higher levels of sugar.
Terroir Squad
Wine grapes are given their distinctive character by a combination of factors like soil, climate, and sunlight known as terroir.
Not all grapes grow in the same terroir. Winegrape growers aiming for a lighter, fruit-flavored end product are best growing in cooler, drier climates. Vines grown in warmer climates result in bolder wines with a softer acidity.
Soil also impacts wine. Most are grown in soils like sand, clay, loam and limestone. Sandy soil produces pale, aromatic wines with low tannin levels. Grapes grown in clay-based soils are able to retain water, resulting in rich, bold reds and whites.
Terroirs also exist in the field of cannabis cultivation.
Different cannabis strains are often the product of different terroirs. A strain like Acapulco Gold is best suited for the tropical climate of the Mexican city it’s named after. The dry winters and rainy, snow-filled summers in the Hindu Kush mountain range produced the cannabis indica variety.
There’s also a major push for cannabis appellation programs, especially in California. An appellation is a legally-defined designation that restricts the growing of a specific plant variety outside of its defined area of origin. Examples of this in the wine industry include Bordeaux wines, named after the region in France where they are grown.
For cannabis operators, the idea is to protect smaller farmers from the homogenization brought by corporate giants. Terroirs and landraces are deeply rooted in history. In many cultures, they represent heritage and shared experiences. Appellations help keep cultural diversity at the forefront of the industry.
Trust the Process
When it comes time to harvest, options for vineyards are twofold: manual harvesting or mechanical harvesting, according to The Grape Grower’s Handbook.
Manual harvesting prioritizes quality over quantity. This more traditional practice has cultivators hand-pick the grapes right off the vine, discarding any damaged or underripe clusters. While more time-consuming and taxing, hand-harvesting usually results in a higher-quality batch. For growers on steep hillsides and difficult landscapes, it’s the only option they have.
Mechanical harvesting is the more commonly used method of the two. It enables growers to pick grapes in large quantities. It’s not nearly as gentle as hand harvesting. The machine batters, shakes, and strips vines as grapes fall onto the conveyor belt. For many, this is a small price to pay for increased efficiency and cutting costs.
Harvesting cannabis also brings with it multiple methods. Wet trimming is when the cannabis plant is cut down and buds are removed from the branches. They are then trimmed—either by hand or by machine—and dried all at once. Trimming off the excess buds makes the product easier to ingest and creates a higher concentration of trichomes.
Dry trimming takes more patience. Once the plant is cut down, it’s hung to dry for multiple days. Buds aren’t bucked or trimmed until they’re fully dried.
Finishing Touches
A growers work isn’t done yet. Cannabis and wine each require a few extra steps before completing the harvesting process.
Once grapes are harvested they go through quality control. Designated sorters examine each grape, making sure they’re ripe enough, disease free, and undamaged. Most wineries use conveyor belts to move things along. Many of these belts can detect and dispose of any grapes that aren’t up to standard.
Up next is the crushing stage. While the traditional method usually involves foot stomping, wineries now have automated machines that crush and de-stem them grapes. These machines break the skin of a grape without crushing the seeds and stems which contain tannins. Similar to terpenes and trichomes in cannabis, tannins are the compounds in wine that produce its bitter flavor and mouth-coating sensation.
The fermenting process brings an end to the harvest. Before hitting the shelves, the product must undergo testing in order to ensure quality, consistency, and safety.
As for cannabis, once the buds are dried and trimmed, they are stored in airtight glass jars for two weeks to a month. This helps preserve the flavors and aromas while stopping the loss of moisture. This procedure, known as curing, is crucial for the flavor and quality of the smoke. Cannabis is also tested in a lab before being made available to consumers.
Tourism Trouble
Tourism is a major opportunity for farmers to not only profit but educate. California’s wine industry rakes in over $8 billion annually from tourism, according to Wine America. Meanwhile, the cannabis industry faces a litany of legal obstacles.
Outdoor cannabis farms in areas like Sonoma County, home to Napa Valley, aren’t allowed to give tours. Many view commercial cannabis as a threat to their quality of life. But indoor facilities are able to give tours, teaching visitors about the growing to harvesting processes.
The world of cannabis and hospitality are also converging to create more unconventional experiences. For example, travelers in legal states can visit bud and breakfasts, which provide users with cannabis-friendly lodging and excursions in tourism hot spots. Others offer activities that combine weed with hobbies like yoga, arts and crafts, and cooking.
Despite so many similarities between the weed and wine industries, winegrowers are hesitant to collaborate with cannabis farms. Even in legal states, a federally-insured winery could lose its license for working with a weed farm.
Jared Giammona, founder of the Sonoma County Experience—which curates experiences around wine, cannabis, craft beer and more—broke down the wine industry’s conflicting attitudes towards cannabis growers:
“It’s two fold. There’s definitely a faction that sees it as a threat or a competitor,” he told Emerald. “There’s also another faction that sees it as an ally because you have a new demographic that’s not looking for just wine experiences.”
The link between the cannabis and wine industries is here to stay. Whether the two sides grow together or apart is something only time will tell.
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