About two and a half hours north of San Francisco lies a lesser-known wine region within a small valley that—with walk-in availability, bottles of pinot noir priced around $40, farm-fresh cheeses, fine dining, apple orchards, vineyards, and redwood groves—feels unpretentious, but appropriately vacation fancy. Driving there on the first weekend of November 2023, the grapevine leaves are turning rasta colors—red, green, and gold—as the valley unfolds, driving west towards the Pacific Ocean. The rolling hills and roadsides are primarily lined with evergreen oaks and redwoods, cut with the occasional yellow-leaved alder or statuesque giant golden ginkgos. After Boonville, in a tiny town called Philo, there is a unique cannabis hospitality concept, a hotel that also grows its own cannabis and offers it for purchase onsite. Checking into The Madrones, the lobby is on the left, within the giftshop that leads to the restaurant. On the right, there’s a 1920s Art Deco apothecary-themed cannabis retailer, The Bohemian Chemist.
High Times Magazine, March 2024
While stepping outside to puff a joint at most hotels feels like an anxiety-ridden exercise in not getting caught, The Madrones boasts an open-air cannabis consumption lounge in an enclosed courtyard behind the lobby. The model feels like a winery tasting room where you’d enjoy a taste or a glass of wine in an opulent environment onsite and then buy a bottle to take home.
The 2023 cannabis harvest is complete, and The Bohemian Chemist is hosting its first cannabis pick-up party for its club members. The hotel is in the Anderson Valley in Mendocino County, the southernmost point of the famed Northern California cannabis cultivation region, the Emerald Triangle. The idea is that club members pick up a box of freshly harvested, dried, and cured cannabis flowers, then join in on a discounted weekend at …
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Author: Ellen Holland / High Times
