Do you know how long Grey’s Anatomy has been on the air? The answer may surprise you. It aired in 2005, three whole presidents ago, which means that the next season, which just got greenlit, will make it 17. (If that sounds old, then consider The Simpsons is scheduled to last until it’s at least 34.) But this isn’t just your typical new season news. There’s a possibility this could the final season for the long-running medical drama. Though it could also not be. But maybe it is. Unless it’s not.
Showrunner Krista Vernoff told The Hollywood Reporter that she’s planning it so it could end or not. “I’m planning a season and a finale that could function as either a season finale or a series finale,” Vernoff said. “I’m planning for both contingencies and it’s hard and it’s not ideal. It’s not where I wish we were.”
When it premiered back in a much, much different era, Grey’s Anatomy was an instant sensation, and it remains so today: As per THR, it remains ABC’s top drama series. Its star, Ellen Pompeo, is currently the highest paid actress in television, though she had to fight for that, and she’s been outspoken about other female performers doing the same.
So you’ll be seeing more of Pompeo’s Meredith Grey, but it’s not clear exactly how much more. Could be one more season. It could be five. Maybe it will never go off the air, outlasting even The Simpsons. Stay tuned for more (or less)!
Ready for a crappy stat? Of the 172 people who have earned the Master Sommelier title through the Court of Master Sommeliers’ Americas chapter, only 28 are women. When it comes to actual winemaking, the figures are even starker. Of the more than 4,000 wineries scattered across California, only 10 percent operate under the guidance of head winemakers who identify as women. And only four percent of all wineries are actually owned by women, according to Lucia Albino Gilbert and John C. Gilbert’s 2020 book, Women Winemakers: Personal Odysseys.
As far as creating equal opportunities and the empowerment of women goes, the wine industry—like many others—has been sluggish at best. The problem extends across all sectors of the industry, from winemaking to importing and distributing on down to the sommeliers. Simply put, the industry could use some change.
There are some folks who are helping increase the visibility of women in wine, though. Folks like Alexandra Schrecengost — the founder and owner of Virtual With Us, a women-led hospitality company that hosts virtual wine tastings and cooking events for brands looking to entertain prospective clients and boost team-building among employees. Just months after launching a wine-centric company during (!) a global pandemic, Schrecengost has built a team of women who know their vino and are dedicated to fostering a more inclusive environment for people of all backgrounds and identities in the field.
“Change has been a little slow because of the industry itself,” Schrecengost says. “There is a lot of women supporting women, but I think the other side of that is the need for more men to stand up for women in terms of pay grade and position. If a lot more of the male leadership started to step forward too, things could only get better. I haven’t seen enough of that.”
Through Virtual With Us, Schrencengost highlights female sommeliers, who lead the company-wide wine tastings. Female chefs are in charge of the cooking component, and whenever a chocolate pairing is involved, Schrencengost sources from 2 Chicks With Chocolate, a mother and daughter-duo making chocolates and treats out of their New Jersey shop. Recently, Virtual With Us partnered with Johnson & Johnson for an International Women’s Day wine tasting the company held for its employees, during which Schrencengost showcased wines by the Robin and Andrea McBride of McBride Sisters Collection as well as Laura Catena of Bodega Catena Zapata.
With all the attention women are receiving throughout Women’s History month, it’s only right that some of the boss ladies who are putting their imprint on the wine industry get a proper shout-out. To go with Schrencengost’s two picks above, we rounded up six more winemakers (total of eight!) who have proven that women can lead in wine — and shown that via the fabulous bottles they produce, year after year. If you want to show your support while getting more women-made* wines on your dinner table, I’ve linked where you can purchase each bottle in the price points listed below.
*Not all of these women are winemakers for labels that they own.
Sisters Robin and Andrea McBride may have launched their label McBride Sisters Collection to share the joy of wine with drinkers around the globe, but their dedication to female empowerment has put the sisters front and center in the march for change.
“These are women of color that came into an industry that’s predominately male, but they’ve really shown how they support women,” Schrencengost notes. “They have their scholarships and their funding initiatives that women can apply for if they’re starting their own business. They’re trying to support women in the industry by funding them.”
The Wine:
This charming pale golden wine is made of 100 percent chardonnay. Tropical aromas are on full display while the palate is drenched in flavors of ripe stone and citrus fruits like apples, pears, and lemon. Overall, the wine maintains a creamy texture and features a slight hint of oak in the finish.
Laura Catena spent her childhood at her grandfather’s winery in Mendoza, Argentina. Although she got a medical degree from Harvard University, Catena’s love for wine lured her back to the family business. While she works as a fourth-generation winemaker, Catena is also a co-founder of the Catena Wine Institute, which specializes in wine education with a specific focus on Argentinian wines.
The Wine:
Made of 100 percent malbec grapes, this purplish-red wine is busy with aromas of red and blackberries and fresh florals like lavender and violet while the palate is juicy with black and blueberry notes. A hit of cinnamon and nutmeg on the back end gives the wine a kick that gets rounded out with flinty minerality and fleshy tannins—the naturally occurring polyphenol found in fruit skins and seeds that inform a wine’s astringency—in the exceptionally long finish.
Sonoma State University alum Jamie Benziger serves as the head winemaker at Imagery Estate Winery in Sonoma, California. She took over the role following her father and Imagery founder Joe Benziger’s retirement in 2017. Since then, Jamie Benziger has helped put the winery on the map. She won the Best Woman Winemaker award at the 2019 International Women’s Wine Competition and was recently featured on Wine Enthusiast’s list of “40 Under 40 Tastemakers.”
The Wine:
You can’t miss the fruit aromas jumping out of a bottle of this 100 percent pinot noir wine. It’s fresh with aromas of jammy strawberries and blueberries. The berries are the star players on the palate too, but they get a savory lift from notes of white pepper and rose petals. A dash of acidity, chewy tannins and a hint of oak in the quick finish only adds to the wine’s character.
Before Anne Dempsey became the head winemaker for Skyside Wines in Northern California, she studied viticulture and enology at the University of California, Davis and made vino in New Zealand and South Africa. Dempsey’s immense understanding of terroir—aspects of a region’s climate, soils, and terrain that impact the taste of the wine—has led her to produce stunning wines that fully convey the varying nuances of California’s landscape for more than a decade.
The Wine:
This wine is comprised of merlot, syrah, cabernet sauvignon, malbec, and petite sirah. The fruit is picked from Skyside vineyards across Mendocino, Sonoma, Lake, Solano, and Napa counties. The differing climates and landscapes of the vineyards shape the wine’s robust character. Baking spices and florals inform the aroma on this deep red wine, while intense flavors of ripe black and blue fruits, oak and dark chocolate influence the taste. Velvety tannins and a spritz of acid meet somewhere in the middle and extend into a long and lingering, smooth finish.
Austria native Julia Prestia is the owner and head winemaker of Venturini Baldini, a winery that specializes in lambrusco and sparkling wine in the Emilia-Romagna region of the country. Since taking over the company in 2015, Prestia has continued the winery’s mission towards organic and sustainable viticulture as Venturini Baldini was among the first Italian producers to make wines through entirely organic production. Through her guidance, the winery won the highest honor in the Lambrusco category when they were awarded a Tre Bicchieri (an Italian wine award) in 2018.
The Wine:
This medium-bodied sparkling red wine is made of Salamino grapes grown on sandy clay soil. It is thoroughly fresh, with fragrances of cranberry, black cherry, and garden herbs like spicy cilantro, basil, and thyme. On the palate, the wine is slightly dry with a hint of tart red berry. The bubbles are refined and persistent from the first pour to the last sip.
As a pre-med student at the University of California, Davis, Brittany Sherwood was merely fulfilling a course credit when she took a wine class during undergrad. Who knew it would lead her to shift her major to viticulture and enology and eventually land her a winemaker position at the renowned California winery, Heitz Cellar. Sherwood has been with the company since 2012. Prior to that, her studies led her to work in wine programs in France, Germany, Switzerland, and Spain, and intern in Oregon’s famous Willamette Valley.
Sherwood has helped maintain the Heitz Cellar’s shining reputation by creating superior California cabernet sauvignons among other wine varieties, and she is slated to launch a new Napa-based wine with the owners of Heitz Cellar later this year.
The Wine:
Open the bottle of this cabernet sauvignon and you’ll be greeted with aromas of raspberries and licorice. This wine is plush with flavors of cassis and star anise that mingle with notes of black plums, black currants, and nutmeg. It’s an elegant, sturdy wine with structured tannins that lend to its complexity and body. The finish is polished and long.
Sharon Fenchak made wines across America before she joined the Biltmore Estates team in 1999. After years of helping craft a range of beautiful wines, she was promoted to the head winemaker role at the North Carolina winery in 2018.
The Wine:
This is a bright, full-bodied chardonnay that is oozing with tropical fruit aromas and buttered bread taste. The fragrance is loaded with smells of lemon, lime, and guava fruit. The palate is dotted with flavors of marmalade, apple butter, and vanilla, while a subtle note of oak on the backend of the wine continues throughout its lengthy finish.
Megan McCollough joined Smith & Hook as an assistant winemaker back in 2011. With a penchant for cabernet sauvignon and a background in enology, she’s helped the team there develop innovative approaches to sourcing and producing the red wines she loves along California’s Central Coast. Her efforts paid off in 2017 when she was promoted to head winemaker, leading her to foster a partnership with grape growers of Paicines AVA of San Benito County—one of the many fruit sources that now informs Smith & Hook’s notable taste.
The Wine:
This ruby-red blend of merlot, petite syrah, malbec, and cabernet sauvignon is made from grapes grown across three appellations of the Central Coast: Arroyo Seco, Santa Lucia Highlands, and San Antonio Valley. It’s a luscious and rich wine full of black cherry, blackberry, cocoa bean, and cola aromas while the palate is rich with dried cherries, bramble berries, and just a wee bit of slate surfacing in the silky finish.
American Horror Story creator Ryan Murphy offered fans their first look at Macaulay Culkin‘s character in the upcoming tenth(!) season that’s currently filming in Provincetown, Massachusetts. Much like the new storyline, there are has been very little in the way of details for Culkin’s character, who will be joined by Sarah Paulson, Kathy Bates, Billie Lourd, Adina Porter, Lily Rabe, Angelica Ross, and Finn Wittrock. Also joining the cast are Evan Peters, hot off his fan-favorite role in WandaVision, and AHS series regular Leslie Grossman, who also pops up in the first look at Culkin’s mystery role.
You can see Murphy’s Instagram post below, which he simply captioned, “Something wicked this way comes.”
As for how Murphy managed to land the Home Alone star, all it took was one phone call and the promise of getting very up close and personal with Kathy Bates. That’s all Culkin needed to hear to sign on to the anthology series.
“So, I have this very, very great insane part. And I asked to speak to him on the phone and he said OK,” Murphy told E! Online. “[When] I cast, I never let people read things, usually. I said, ‘OK, here’s the pitch.’ And I told them the character and I told him he has crazy, erotic sex with Kathy Bates and does other things. And he paused and he goes, ‘This sounds like the role I was born to play.’ So, he signed up right then and there.”
There’s only one politician who can unite us now: the Joker.
Yuusuke Kawai is running for governor of the Chiba Prefecture in Japan, the home of Tokyo Disneyland. Unsurprisingly, some of his platforms are Disney-related, including re-naming Narita International Airport to “Disney Sky” (a nod to DisneySea, considered the greatest theme park in the world) and making Frozen‘s “Let It Go” the official theme song of Chiba. Also, Kawai wants to replace the word “trash” with “star fragment” and, oh yeah, he’s dressed like the Joker. Not just any Joker, either, but Joaquin Phoenix’s Joker. “Since the clown is kind of a dark hero, I had this impression that I could get the support of the masses,” the edgelord politician explained to Tokyo Sports. “I’m going to aim for laughs. Even if [I] talked [as] my true self, it wouldn’t be news.”
Honestly, he sounds like a better governor than his competitor:
Yuusuke Kawai announced his candidacy with the Party to Make All of Chiba a Land of Dreams and Magic with an agenda that appeared intent on riling up his rival candidate, Masayuki Hiratsuka. His opponent — a former Protect the Nation from NHK member — is the current head of the People’s Sovereignty Party, known for its anti-mask stance and slogans such as “COVID-19 is just a cold” and “Vaccines are dangerous.”
In response to the anti-maskers, Kawai said, “Just getting colds is not pleasant,” adding “that masks can also prevent seasonal allergies and that some people like wearing masks to cover their faces,” according to the New York Post. He also has a music video.
He has my tWiStEd vote (as long as he swaps “Let It Go” for “Poor Unfortunate Souls”).
South ParQ Vaccination Special (Comedy Central 8:00pm) — Following the success of last year’s The Pandemic Special, creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are back with the gang, and of course, everyone in South ParQ wants to get this dang vaccine. And that’s great! Well, other than (according to the synopsis) “[a] hilarious new militant group tries to stop the boys from getting their teacher vaccinated.” That group must be QAnon or something like it, and from the looks of the special’s preview, Butters is fully on board with the conspiracy theories.
Last Chance U: Basketball (Netflix series) — The Emmy-winning franchise returns with a gritty look into community college basketball. The players all want to rise to the next level and achieve dreams, but first, those damn personal demons and warring emotions happen on and off thecourt, all while the East Los Angeles College Huskies set their sights upon an unprecedented California state basketball championship.
Dealer (Netflix series) — It’s a bloody gang war, y’all, and it’s all happening in the South of France, which sounds wild enough, but this show also revolves around two filmmakers, including a music video director who’s filming a drug gang leader with far too much charisma and not enough predictability inside, and he also wants to bust into the rap scene. This series hopes to thrill you with a fast pace and a found-footage feel.
Marriage or Mortgage (Netflix series) — You know those people who spend so much. money on their wedding that they might as well have bought a house? Yeah, that’s what’s happening here, although there’s plenty of wisdom here from a real estate agent who’s hoping to help couples avoid dumping their cash into a freaking party with a fancy-ass cake. Yet of course, the real estate agent has to beat the voice of a hopeless-romantic wedding planner, and this sounds like a clash for the ages. HGTV, this ain’t.
Snowfall: Season 4 Premiere (FX, 10:00pm) — The John Singleton-co-created series sees Franklin’s troubles move past the gang warfare in the mid 1980s, Reagan-era streets of America, although now, his missteps put Leon in danger. Meanwhile, Teddy’s attempting to avoid fallout from Tijuana, and Irene’s in investigative mode.
Resident Alien (SyFy, 10:30pm) — Alan Tudyk (Firefly, Rogue One) is an alien, Harry, who’s pretending to be a doctor. This week, Harry fears he’s about to fail, so he finds an unlikely ally.
Jimmy Kimmel Live! — Kevin Bacon, Travon Free, Daya
The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon — Norman Reedus, Charlie And Dixie D’Amelio, Mike Vecchione
The Late Late Show With James Corden — Trevor Noah, Grouplove
Late Night With Seth Meyers — Audra McDonald, Fruit Bats, John Herndon
In case you missed this pick last Wednesday:
Murder Among The Mormons (Netflix series) — Salt Lake City is struck by a series of fatal pipe bombs in 1985, and it’s easily one of the most shocking happenings in the history of the Mormon community. A criminal mastermind is to blame, and clues spring from early Mormon documents and diaries found scattered amid a rare document collection that’s in possession of one of the victims. This is a three-part miniseries and a true-crime documentary that digs into territory seldom seen for a genre that tends to focus on spooks and serial killers. Here, the main crimes in question went down in broad daylight, but as the episodes unfold, the darkness of what sparked these stunning killings slowly rises to the surface.
After delaying the release of their icy “Aspen” video last Friday, Key Glock and Young Dolph are finally ready to hit the slopes. Taking over a cabin on a snowy mountainside, the two Memphis rappers canoodle with some models, have a snowball fight, and tote snowboards to the ski lift (although, in typical rapper fashion, we never do get to see those snowboards get used — call it a liability issue). The video is the first from the duo’s upcoming joint album Dum And Dummer 2, which doesn’t have a release date as yet.
Despite being the first official single from Dum And Dummer 2, “Aspen” was far from Dolph and his protege’s first collaboration of 2021. In February, they teamed up for the video to “Green Light” from the deluxe version of Dolph’s album Rich Slave. Later on in February, they released “Case Closed,” a new crossover unattached to any official releases, but which will likely land on the upcoming joint album.
Meanwhile, Key started off the year with a pair of solo tracks, “Off The Porch” and “I’m The Type,” portending a big year for the 23-year-old rapper. His mentor and label boss, Young Dolph, dropped solo videos for “Large Amounts” and “To Be Honest” before shifting gears to their joint venture.
Watch “Aspen” above. Dum And Dummer 2 is due this year on Paper Route EMPIRE.
In addition to the Heat sending him away from the team indefinitely, Twitch also banned him, and FaZe Clan, the gaming organization he owned a stake in, cut ties with him. Leonard released an apology after his use of the slur went viral, claiming he was ignorant to the history of the word and that he was wrong to use it. Still, the NBA is conducting an investigation, and the Heat have thoroughly denounced his use of what the team called “hate speech.”
However, Edelman, who is Jewish, is extending an olive branch to Leonard in hopes to educate the Heat center and give him a more nuanced perspective on the history of the word and its hateful nature. Edelman did something similar when DeSean Jackson made anti-Semitic remarks last fall, inviting Jackson to the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.
For the first time since 2004, the NHL will have games played on ESPN as part of a new rights deal that will bring games to 25 games a year to ESPN and ABC, along with the majority of playoff and Stanley Cup Final games, as well as 75 games a year on ESPN+ and Hulu, as streaming rights are the biggest part of the deal.
It is highlighted by: exclusive coverage of the Stanley Cup Final on ABC in four of the seven years of the agreement, with the ability to simulcast/megacast on ESPN+ and additional ESPN networks; the return of live NHL action to ESPN networks with 25 exclusive national regular-season games on ABC or ESPN; 75 national regular-season games per season produced by ESPN that will stream exclusively on both ESPN+ and Hulu; half of the Stanley Cup Playoffs on ABC and ESPN each season; and coverage annually of NHL’s Face-off (opening night games), the NHL All-Star Game and Skills Challenge, plus other NHL special events each season.
Additionally, the NHL’s out-of-market streaming package, with more than 1,000 games (formerly on NHL.TV), will now be available for fans to stream only as part of an ESPN+ subscription.
For many fans, having the NHL back on ESPN will take them back to the sounds of their childhood watching games, as ESPN’s NHL theme music is iconic and, yes, is coming back.
Yes, hockey fans, the iconic ESPN @NHL theme music will be back!
Composer Bob Christianson shares more on the musical piece first introduced to viewers in 1992, that still resonates with hockey fans after nearly 30 yearshttps://t.co/PvcI2nDuHupic.twitter.com/hOdPaXAeXg
However, the NHL on ESPN won’t sound exactly the same unless the network brings back play-by-play commentator Gary Thorne, who just so happened to have his time with the Baltimore Orioles come to an end. The replies to ESPN’s NHL announcement features a ton of fans calling for the legendary voice to be brought back to the network, as he is the soundtrack to so many memories of the network’s NHL games.
Natalie Portman will officially make her television debut in the new AppleTV limited series Lady in the Lake. Joining her for the project is fellow Marvel veteran Lupita Nyong’o, who like Portman, will also serve as executive producer along with Dre Ryan (who will co-create and co-write the show). Apple is so excited about it that it already received a straight-to-series order.
Here’s the official synopsis from Apple:
“Lady in the Lake” is an adaptation of Laura Lippman’s New York Times best-selling novel of the same name. The limited series takes place in 60s Baltimore, where an unsolved murder pushes housewife and mother, Maddie Schwartz (Portman) to reinvent her life as an investigative journalist and sets her on a collision course with Cleo Sherwood (Nyong’o), a hard-working woman juggling motherhood, many jobs and a passionate commitment to advancing Baltimore’s Black progressive agenda.
The Apple series marks another high-profile move for Portman, who is currently filming Thor: Love and Thunder after sitting out for the well-received Thor: Ragnarok. She is slated to become The Mighty Thor, who for the record is not Lady Thor or the girl Thor, but a hero in her own right who’s worthy to wield the mythical hammer Mjolnir.
As for Nyong’o, she’s just coming off of the espionage thriller The 355 and will also be returning to the Marvel universe for Black Panther 2, which will have the difficult task of carrying on the legacy of Chadwick Boseman after the actor passed away over the summer at the age of 42.
If the interaction between you and your budtender typically goes something like this: “Hi, what can I get for you today?” “Can I see your top-shelf indicas, please?” and that, for the most part, ends your interaction — well, you’re leaving the shop with less than half of the picture of how your chosen strain will affect you. And you’re paying the full price for it! Call that the cost of ignorance.
It seems easy enough to think about weed in very simple terms: how high is the THC content (translation: how high will this get me)? Is it going to make me feel lazy, energetic, or somewhere in between? And thinking about weed along those lines is all fine and good if you’re purely smoking for recreational reasons. But if you’re using cannabis for one of its many purported medicinal-creative-sexual-lifestyle benefits? You’re going to want to zero in on what exactly you need. And to do that, you need to be asking about the strain’s terpene profile.
To put it simply, terpenes are the chemicals in cannabis that are responsible for the plant’s distinctive smell and taste, and, more crucially, the nuances between different strains. Like most plants, cannabis is packed with various terpenes, but the most common include terpinolene, limonene, linalool, pinene, myrcene, and beta-caryophyllene. And they’re all responsible for the different effects, flavors, and aromas of your weed. If you’re looking for a strain to knock you out and help you sleep, is it better to reach for an indica with a high amount of terpinolene, or is it better to reach for one with lots of limonene?
Don’t know the answer? It’s safe to assume you don’t know enough about terpenes.
We’re not trying to make you feel bad here, we also didn’t know enough about terpenes. So we reached out to Dr. Ari Mackler, chief science officer at PLUS. PLUS makes a whole host of THC products that include CBD and THC mints and gummies. We’re huge fans of their PLUS Strains line — which relies on the terpene flavors and aroma profiles of some of the best cannabis strains out there to craft easy-to-eat, delicious cannabis gummies that’ll get you high and help you to zero in on the effects you’re after by printing the terpene profile right on their Altoids-like tin.
After listening to me rave about the PLUS “Sugar Plum” holiday gummies I tried before Christmas, Dr. Mackler was kind enough to offer a starter course for anyone eager to understand terpenes better in order to find the high that best fits their needs.
Dane Rivera
As I understand it, terpenes are responsible for a lot of weed’s effects, why is buying solely along the categories of indica, sativa, and hybrid a shallow way of selecting strains?
Back several years ago the industry grew up with folks really focusing in on distinctions like indica, sativa, and hybrids. Over the course of the last few years though we’ve been really able to push boundaries of chemistry — I like to call it phytochemistry — to understand what’s inside the plant and how that chemistry is affecting, impacting, and benefiting our physiology. That pushed us for the last couple of years into the direction of being very specific here at PLUS — having ratioed products instead of just spectrum products. We’ve continued to learn and push those boundaries of phytochemistry, we are now at a point that is allowing us to better unpack, not fully unpack, but better unpack our knowledge of the chemistry and its components, inclusive of the nuances between the indica, the sativa, and the hybrids, which is now allowing us to better understand and leverage the full spectrum capacity of the plant to really get to what is often been termed the “entourage effect.”
Meaning the amplifying effect of CBD, THC, other cannabinoids, and terpenes working in unison rather than being isolated, right?
For the sake of today’s conversation, take a sativa — how does Lemon Jack distinguish itself from a different sativa? The Grandaddy Purple for indica, we can now actually understand the chemistry and the nuances there, such as the terpenes, to find there are distinctions between and nuances between two different types of indica or sativa.
Lemon Jack has the dominant terpenes of terpinolene, beta-Caryophyllene, and linalool. Several months ago, as a holiday SKU, we developed another sativa based product called Sugar Plum. That one leans into limonene, beta-caryophyllene, and linalool. Although there is overlap, the limonene is in both but in a different combination, the beta-caryophyllene are in both but in different concentrations, there is a subtle difference between the linalool in the Sugar Plum and the limonene in the Lemon Jack, using that as an example, we can now dial in to understand the subtle differences between not just the categories, but to get down into the plants themselves, which is really exciting.
What are terpenes exactly, can you run us through the different types found in weed and what they do?
A terpene is a compound that most people will understand as being responsible for aromas and flavors. That’s what gives cannabis its potent pungent smell, you’re smelling the terpenes. The terpenes are a very interesting chemical because not only do they provide interesting sensory effects like smell and taste, but now we’re understanding that they’re probably going to have a big impact on the psychoactive impact and benefits. It rounds out the cannabinoids, they’re not working in isolation, they’re working with all these different chemistry. You have this milieu that has terpenes, and flavonoids, cannabinoids major and minor, all of these things work together to create the effect, but simply, terpenes are known as the chemicals that give you flavor and smell
In terms of the common ones, there are a lot, there are dozens of them all throughout nature. You’ll have things that are clearly identifiable — pinene, for example, you just know by its name, or limonene, these have relationships to other plants, fruits, trees out there in nature. Within cannabis you have many, north of 100, I forget what the exact number is today. The major ones that keep playing out over and over again are limonene, beta-caryophyllene, myrcene — you’ll find them in many different strains cutting across your categories — but what’s interesting is the combination there will often give you the fine control vs the coarse control.
Just using a sativa as an example, in Lemon Jack you have terpinolene, beta-caryophyllene, and linalool, vs the sugar plum you have the same limonene but in a higher, concentration, beta-Caryophyllene and linalool, which you don’t have in a high degree of in the Lemon Jack.
It really comes down to the balance and, mind you, balance will change from strain to strain, depending on how you’re growing it, just like winemaking. A lot of it comes down to how that grape is grown, where that grape is grown, it’s the same thing in cannabis.
All of this equals a certain unique effect for each combination of terpenes?
Terpinolene, that’s a sedating calming terpene. Beta-caryophyllene is often linked to pain relief and anti-inflammatory characteristics. Limonene is often associated with elevated or stimulating effects. They don’t seem, on the surface, to jive, you have something that is calming or you have something that is a bit elevated, but the combination of them is what gives you the total impact of that flower.
Just to circle back for a second… because my definition might have been clumsy — the entourage effect is something being talked about more and more thanks to the rise of CBD. For those who don’t know, please describe what the entourage effect is?
Let’s talk from a basic science perspective. I grew up as a basic scientist and I was taught when I was in school that to really get to the answer to a question about a chemical response you need to be reductionist. Reduce yourself to a single molecule. Think back to high school biology days, you have a hormone, and a receptor, and it’s going to give you a response — I’m being simplistic about it.
The entourage effect on the other hand is looking at the plant’s effects in a more holistic way. We shouldn’t think about one chemical giving you one response. THC is intoxicating but if you were having a cocktail of chemicals — all-natural not suggesting otherwise, don’t be mislead by the word chemical — it’s neither good nor bad, but if you have this cocktail so to speak of THC with a little CBD to round it out, maybe a smidgen of CBN and a smidgen of CBG plus you have this milieu of terpenes, that’s going to give you a different level of physiology. It’s taking your physiology to a different endpoint.
You’re not just being binary in terms of intoxication vs non-intoxication, you may have this more rounded effect, you’ll have a different high, perhaps a more mellow high or a more headstrong high vs a body high, all depending on the terpene cocktail that may come along with those cannabinoids, if that makes sense.
That gets to explain the differences between an indica and sativa, the indica being much more laid back chill, that milieu is helping to define that vs the sativa, which is helping you to be more inventive or artistic, which is different than that body high.
Are terpenes something you can smell out like a wine connoisseur or do you have to rely on manufacturers or budtenders to give you the breakdown of an individual strain’s terpene profile?
That’s a great question — there are definitely people who have a trained nose and can go into the shop and take a deep breath of some flower and get a good appreciation for the notes they are sensing. If you’re talking about flowers, you have a better opportunity to be a bit more artisanal about it. Like the wine connoisseur, you can take a taste and take apart the different components.
I suspect you can do something similar with edibles, but because the edible is taking terpenes and infusing them, and embedding them in a different medium, I think it’ll be a bit muddied. I don’t think that means you can’t taste the difference, you can definitely taste the difference between our Jack vs our Plum vs our Pineapple, there are, for sure, differences in taste and effects. But to be able to take that whiff as you could with flower? Maybe there are some well-trained noses out there but that’s not me!
We definitely have some super palates that we have on my team at PLUS, but I’m not the person who can just take in a deep breath and know exactly what I’m smelling. If you have a strong pinene or strong limonene, there is no question you can pull that out — as those are so distinct — but some of the other ones are a bit more nuanced.
For example, myrcene has a musky smell. That one you’d be able to pull out, but would you be able to say “oh this is a myrcene heavy edible” just from the smell? Maybe not.
Are there any strains you feel have a particularly interesting terpene profile? Is it clear cut between the strains — Is a sativa going to have a completely different profile than an indica or is there a lot of cross between?
There is a tremendous cross between, it’s most definitely not black and white. It’s less a binary of this has this, and that has that, and with the advancements to breeding that have happened over the decades, those lines have become even more blurred. You’ll have very similar notes between the different categories, but that doesn’t mean you can’t seek out specific effects from different flowers. My point is that there is still cross over, even if its a pure strain or a hybrid,
It’s like you have one deck of cards, you’re playing you’re game with the same deck of cards, it’s just a question of how you make up that hand.
How does PLUS approach terpenes differently than other cannabis brands? When you’re going with strain selection how do you go about choosing what strains to pick? For example, the Sugar Plum, why did you guys choose that strain?
We really want to be able to take our science to a place where we can meet our customers in a happy place. We know there are definite strains that are more flavor-forward. We want a strain people can enjoy, there are strains people enjoy for one reason or another that have a flavor-forward component to it. Because we’re working with edibles it seems natural to go with those.
What about weed chemistry do we still not understand? There has been so much advancement in the last couple of years but we still don’t know everything — what’s gnawing at you?
That’s what I thoroughly enjoy about this business right now. I was trained as a basic scientist, I went into medicine and the pharmaceutical field, left there and went into food, and spent a decade in food. I wanted to keep pushing with my science and phytochemistry and that led me to cannabis. What I really love about cannabis is that there are still doors to be opened. On a real basic-chemistry perspective, we are becoming really good at identifying the different chemicals. We know the major cannabinoids, we know the minor cannabinoids, we know most of, if not the vast, majority of the terpenes, but what we still need to understand is how this complex chemistry makes people happy. That’s on a simple level, but there are the much more subtle and perhaps interesting nuances between the different types of effects. These are not just haphazard effects, either. Yes, you can become intoxicated; yes, you can prevent your nausea; yes, you can tend to inflammation or pain or anxiety; but to be able to really understand those, and we’re getting there, to really be able to understand those is exciting.
That’s where the rubber is going to have to hit the road, as we move forward in the science. To understand the right chemistry, the right concentrations for the right people to get the best effect. We want to move adjacent to the recreational space, the therapeutic space, and the pharmaceutical space — we’re not a pharmaceutical company don’t misunderstand my comments, but the adult-use space, people use cannabis for many reasons, not just to get high. That’s exciting to start to unpack that. There is still a lot of work to be done with that!
We started off talking about how choosing strains along the lines of sativa, indica, and hybrid is kind of shallow. In addition to terpenes, what else are we as weed shoppers overlooking?
I think what’s important is how you approach the chemistry. There may be a distinction, you may have a purpose to say “oh I want to use an isolate or a distillate” or you want to approach your extract selection through the use of a solvent or not. This gives you the ability to control things, there are all different levers you can choose as a manufacturer, as a grower, as an extractor as a buyer of cannabis to get what you want out of your experience.
There are all subtle differences, hash for example is a very exciting space. Or the solvents, or one extraction method vs another. If you’re going to use butane or not butane, ethanol or not ethanol, there are all subtle dials that allow you to dial into your ultimate product.
In the end, you’re still getting that basic chemistry. Do you have your cannabinoids and in what concentration? Do you have your terpenes and are they being biased by what you’re choosing to do with your extraction methodology? And how are you going to take that chemistry and infuse it into, in the case of my company, your edible? Can you do it in a way that is authentic, clean, robust, efficient, effective, and delicious? These are all the different levers we try to pull to create the best possible product.
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