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Some weed with your wine?

Bill and Barbara Steele moved to this sleepy corner of Oregon to start their own winery after successful, high-powered business careers.

Now, more than a decade later and with award-winning wine to show for their hard work, they are adding a new crop: marijuana.

Oregon's legalization of recreational pot two years ago created room for entrepreneurial cross-pollination in this fertile region abutting California's so-called Emerald Triangle, a well-known nirvana for outdoor weed cultivation.

Recreational marijuana won't be legal in California until next year, but a few miles north of the border in Oregon, a handful of winemakers are experimenting with pot in hopes of increasing their appeal among young consumers and in niche markets.

"Baby boomers are drinking less. Millennials are coming into their time, economically, where in 2016 they were the fastest-growing consumers of wine, both in dollars and volume," said Barbara Steele, who runs Cowhorn Vineyard & Garden in rural Jacksonville with her husband.

"They're looking for an experience of 'wine and weed.'"

The Steeles leased their land to grow 30 medical marijuana plants last year, and this year they are growing double that amount to be branded with the same label as their wine. They started with seeds in plastic cups under incubators in their laundry room, and pride themselves on a "seed to smoke" philosophy.

This year's crop also is for medical use, but the Steeles are seeing the benefits of the expanding market from legal recreational pot. Their weed was reviewed alongside one of their white wines in Stoner Magazine, an Oregon cannabis publication.



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