Cannabis and wine come together again to discuss impacts of emerging industry
Healdsburg, CA, August 6th, 2018 – The Wine Industry Network (WIN) hosted the 2nd Annual North Coast Wine & Weed Symposium on August 2nd at the Hyatt Regency Sonoma Wine Country in Santa Rosa. Professionals from the cannabis and wine industries came together for the second year to discuss the latest developments with legalization and challenges and opportunities that have arisen for the wine industry over the past year.
The symposium was once again sold out hosting nearly 500 attendees from the North Coast and beyond. Of the days attendees, 60% were from the wine industry with cannabis and other industry professionals making up the remaining 40%.
The opening keynote was delivered by Dr. Bill Silver, CEO of CannaCraft Inc., California’s largest producer of premium cannabis brands, and former Dean of the School of Business and Economics at Sonoma State University. Silver shared his experiences on the front lines of the emerging cannabis industry along with those from his former position leading the Wine Business Institute program.
A talented line-up of expert speakers from both industries discussed a wide range of topics throughout the day including rules, regulations, and policy updates, the impact of cannabis tourism on the wine industry, defining the cannabis consumer and overlap with wine, and lessons learned from wine applicable to the cannabis industry.
More than 40 companies were on hand to showcase new products and services, and attendees had the opportunity to participate in a unique cannabis sensory experience offered by Garden Society, a cannabis confection company that specializes in low dose edibles. The interactive experience allowed people to examine whole cannabis plants, flowers, and leaves, to smell different identifiers in different strains, and taste foods that share similar terpene profiles.
Networking opportunities were abundant throughout the day and at several extracurricular events such as the Sonoma County Experience Tour that featured a visit to CannaCraft, Solful Dispensary, a local winery & brewery, and finally a demo cannabis garden and a sophisticated farm-to-table dining experience, Terpenes and Terroir, hosted by TSO Elevated Events and The Herb Somm, that highlighted select cannabis and wine aroma pairings.
“Of all the conferences that exist for the wine industry, none display the same level of engagement or enthusiasm as the Wine & Weed Symposium. Nearly all of the large wine companies and many small wineries were represented and the consensus remains, that over time, these two industries will have much more of a collaborative relationship than a competitive one. Wine & Weed Symposium 2019 will be even better”, says George Christie, CEO Wine Industry Network.
See pictures from Wine & Weed Symposium.
About Wine Industry Network (WIN):
Wine Industry Network (WIN) (wineindustrynetwork.com), is based in Healdsburg, CA and is THE business resource for the wine industry. WIN produces two annual trade shows & conferences, the North Coast Wine Industry Expo (WIN Expo) (wineindustryexpo.com), and the Wine & Weed Symposium (wine-weed.com); the online daily news publication, Wine Industry Advisor (wineindustryadvisor.com); an online employment resource, WIN Jobs (wineindustry.jobs); and THE North American Wine Industry Database, Wine Industry Data (WIN Data) (wineindustrydata.com).
