Sunstone Winery Debuts First-Ever Cannabis Spritz In 4 Fruity Flavors

Sunstone Winery, located north of Santa Barbara, California, announced in a press release that it's the first vineyard to offer a cannabis beverage called the Sunstone Spritz. The sparkling beverage, which contains no alcohol, will debut in four refreshing flavors that include Grapefruit Orange, Peach-Passion Fruit, Pineapple Coconut, and Watermelon. Sunstone Spritz contains sparkling water, natural juice flavors, and five milligrams of THC from full-spectrum cannabis rosin.

Sunstone's cannabis rosin is produced by a gentle, hand-churned method that extracts cannabinoids without the use of solvents. The rosin is then put through a nano-emulsification process, which helps evenly distribute the cannabis throughout a beverage and also decreases the amount of time required for consumers to feel the effects of the THC. Typically, if you drink Sunstone Spritz, you can expect to feel effects in five to 15 minutes, compared with typical edibles, which may require up to 45 minutes to take effect. Sunstone Spritz doesn't contain any wine, in keeping with Sunstone's philosophy: "We think wine should stay wine, and weed should stay weed."

Each batch of Sunstone Spritz — along with the soon-to-debut Sunstone Splash, a cannabis emulsion that can be added to any beverage — is produced using a single strain from a single farm in Santa Barbara County, highlighting the region's cannabis terroir, much like a winery does with its grapes. Sunstone also points out the importance of its sun-grown cannabis, which the winery believes delivers a more nuanced flavor than cannabis grown under artificial lighting.

Sunstone Spritz is sold only direct-to-consumer, and it's available via the website, with delivery currently limited to Santa Barbara County, though Sunstone plans to expand delivery to other counties in California, as they're legally permitted. Sunstone Spritz is sold in 12-ounce slim cans, packed 24 to a mixed case, which contains six cans of each flavor. The price of the case is $199.95, inclusive of taxes and fees, making the cost of each can about $8.33. A single can have 20 to 40 calories, depending on the flavor. Sunstone recommends consumers "start low and go slow," by drinking a single can and feeling the effects before adding another.