France’s first wine with cannabis comes from Bordeaux

he relaxing effects of cannabis have been well-documented, but it seems to be stressing out part of the French wine industry. The ‘Burdi W’ label was launched on the fund-raising platform KissKissBankBank on February 1. It topped its first tier of €3,500 in a single day and sold its first 500-bottle production run. The release of a ‘Burdigala Wine’ by a Bordeaux chateau would have gone unnoticed but as this particular label refers to ‘Burdigala Weed’, its launch was anything but inconspicuous.

The innovation, which has become a magnet for consumers, is already causing anxiety for some industry members, who are not happy with this new flavoured wine drink. It might not smell of sulphur (due to lack of added sulphites), but the first French cannabis-flavoured wine definitely smells of smoke. The wine is made from Petit Verdot sourced in the vineyards of Bordeaux, and is the brainchild of Raphaël de Pablo. “I've already received some unpleasant calls”, he said. “The truth is, this is wine with cannabis. The label clearly states that it is a flavoured wine-based drink”, commented de Pablo, who is launching the ‘Burdi W’ brand with another entrepreneur, who prefers to remain anonymous, just like the Bordeaux chateau that supplied the wines.

As a hemp farmer in Gironde – at the Ferme Médicinale, whose address has not been disclosed for fear of theft – de Pablo has no difficulty explaining his work on regulated seeds, whose cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) concentrations are below 0.2%, as required by law. But he is well aware that the finger will be pointed at him: “The world of wine is not very open-minded and the world of cannabis has a bad image... Some may say that we are giving Bordeaux wines a bad image, but you cannot say it is our fault if Bordeaux wines are not selling... In fact, we have come along at just the right time to boost their image”.

To placate the critics – and respond to disbelief as some people thought it was an April fool’s joke – the first vintage of the ‘Burdi W’ range was tasted by renowned consultants Alain Raynaud and Michel Rolland.