Blue Dream and a Washington state Rosé Get Together

By Taylor Rausch
October 16, 2024

The Strain: Blue Dream

The Wine: Browne Bitner Estate Grenache Rosé 2023

Strain Lineage: Blueberry x Super Silver Haze

I highly recommend this combination for those spending the summers outside on the porch or by the pool or when you want it to feel like summer — it's a regular happy hour pick-me-up. 

Let’s taste the wine before we smoke

2023 Browne ‘Bitner Estate’ Rosé  $16.99/Bottle

100% Grenache
Region: Columbia Valley AVA
Where to find: Total Wine and More

This wine is an easy drinker with an initial off-dry expression followed by a crisp finish that tightens up across your tongue, cleansing the palate. Serve this wine a little chilled for best results – around 50 degrees. 

The lower alcohol content of the Rosé allows some of the fruitiness, like cherries and strawberries, to take center stage alongside notes of citrus fruit. This wine is light-bodied, which had me fooled considering the flavors are booming because of that low alcohol.

The aroma of the weed and wine begin to intertwine from the sweetness of the Browne Bitner Estate Grenache Rosé’s fruit forwardness, and I’m ready to smoke.

How ‘bout we spark it up?

A classic cult strain, with historically hearty and euphoric lineage.

The aroma explodes with myrcene, a common earthy terpene found in cannabis that usually invokes a mix of herb, grapefruit and unripe citrus – most likely from the Super Silver Haze parentage – but there is much more going on. It grinds well, and as the Blue Dream is shredded, terpene power emerges. A floral storm approaches with sweet and herbaceous notes from the pinene and caryophyllene that covers the immediate area in a fresh smell not too far away from the skin and stems of a Grenache grape itself. 

The wine delivers a clear cut of acidity that breaks up the sweetness from the Blue Dream’s otherwise bitter pinene on the palate. It brings a cooling sensation to the experience.

The Grenache Rosé is crisp, and the heat from my lighter touching the cannabis has activated cannabinoids from the Blue Dream over my taste buds as the liquid ushers it onto the back of my tongue. The Blue Dream and the Bitner Estate Grenache Rosé dance across my palate with a demeanor not unsimilar to a work party – some structure, and you like some of the folks, but thank goodness there is alcohol. The finish holds a red and blackberry sensation that provides character for a medium finish. Raspberry, blackberry, sour cherry and spots of citrus linger for about 10-13 seconds. I’ll take another hit…

Grenache is a red-skinned grape with white flesh. Leaving the red skin on the juice for a short period of time creates the light pink rosé color, while simultaneously imparting a terpene called linalool, which is responsible for even the lightest of bitterness, hints of rose petal, and citrusy aromas. This process also provides angular (crisp) and young polyphenol chains that derive from the skin, giving the wine more relatable qualities to the weed strain without disrupting the quality of being approximately 10.5 percent alcohol by volume.

I suggest this pairing with Apple Salsa with Cilantro & Pork Panini.