Imagine green rolling hills with eucalyptus and olive trees, a community of cannabis and wine enthusiasts, and perfect California weather. This was the setting of the Sunstone Winery and Budist Gala I attended in the picturesque Santa Ynez Valley.
Sunstone Winery: A Welcome Retreat
Sunstone Winery is stunning - but with a dose of casual and cool California is known for. A French Chateau sits on the property, shipped from France in 40 cargo containers, by the Rice family who started Sunstone in 1989. Now under the co-ownership with Teddy and Djamila Cabugos, the vision of Sunstone continues to be bio-sustainable organic farming methods that produce world-class wines. I encourage you to visit their website for a deeper dive into how Sunstone came to be.
What is Budist?
Budist is a new app, the first, for creating a community of cannabis experts and consumers who rate products and brands on a 100-point system, much like wine reviews. Co-founded by Jocelyn Sheltraw, Certified Ganjier, this app is stylish, user-friendly, and informative. Budist connects brands, experts, and consumers in one place so they can share their reviews of products. Budist experts will also be judges at the California State Fair this year in the cannabis category. The fair added cannabis flower to their programming in 2022 and this year’s Fair will have expanded cannabis categories to be judged. Budist will be expanding into other states soon along with more options coming to the app.
Sunstone & Budist: The Perfect Pairing
The Sunstone/Budist event was curated and sponsored by California brands. Alongside Sunstone’s award-winning wines, businesses included: Kiva’s infused chocolate fountain with delicious strawberries, a dab bar by RosinInc, and Happy Chance’s Katherine Knowlton created a charcuterie board that was out of this world. Poundcakes Farm and Embra Cannabis had tables with amazing flower to sample. Jamie Evans, The Herb Somm created infused beverages using Sunstone’s line of Cannabis Spritzers with fresh fruits and herbs that were tailored and dosed to guests’ requests. Being a female in the cannabis industry, it was encouraging to see so many women represented at the gala. A local DJ filled the air with cool sounds to round out a great evening.
The Fat Nugs Team was fortunate to spend a few days at Sunstone getting to know the staff and meet many locals of Santa Barbara and the surrounding area. I was enchanted by the spirit of community for the people, wine, and cannabis industry. They support each other in creating a world-class destination of locally grown and locally produced products that are second to none. Teddy and Djamila have something very special with Sunstone with plans for more wine and cannabis events and cannabis-only events in the future.
I spoke with Jocelyn and Claudio Miranda, COO of Budist and Certified Ganjier on what their takeaways were from such a stellar event. Their words say it best…
“The intent of our Gala was to celebrate the people and producers of California cannabis, and to lift the spirits of our community as we work through our challenges and look toward a brighter future for our industry. The time has come to set aside our differences and reunite around a common cause, so we wanted to create an environment that fostered a spirit of optimism, collaboration, and mutual respect as we head into this next chapter of our collective journey.” said Jocelyn.
“We were excited to host our celebration at Sunstone Winery because the atmosphere of this magical property embodies our ethos at Budist—to elevate the conversation of cannabis through passion and education. The next generation of consumers need user-friendly ways to explore cannabis that feel welcoming and familiar, so it seemed natural for us to bring Budist to the world in an environment that perfectly bridges this gap.” said Claudio.
It was an event to be remembered. The cannabis industry needs community-oriented, collaboration-based gatherings, in every state, to help break through the stigma and move our industry forward.
