To make two things that are good into something exceptional is the simple translation of Cuvee’ (although in French it is much sexier) and the strain was originally created in 2014 in Northern California.

I had bought property in Sonoma County, a little three-acre piece on top of a nice hill near Napa, and I met Frenchy Cannoli who gave me a cut of Pinot Noir a clone-only F4 cross of Original Blackberry and Vintage 1978 Pakistani.

It’s one of my favorite strains (mainly due to her amazing taste but the high isn’t bad either) but the complexity of enjoyment this strain provides can’t be summed up in a THC number. I must give credit to TC curtiss who I have lost contact with but who introduced me to Frenchy Canoli.

Frenchy, as many of Weed World readers will know, is extremely passionate about hash and he gave me a cutting of the Pinot and I grew it out and loved it. I knew I could add more resin and maybe a bit of flavour by crossing her to Vic High’s Space Queen, my most prolific male plant, as everything he touches gets better (like when we took Purple Urkle and made Querkle).

I did a side-by-side for over a year and in every poll Querkle was chosen by visual resin production. When we grew out the first Cuvee’ seeds we were impressed with the rich thick cocoa smell that stood out early and got more and more like a deep chocolate mixed with currants or something, very exotic. I grew her a second time and then a third when I devoted my entire outdoor garden to the strain in 2017. All my life I have chased flavors first – lemon then lime, orange was something I chased and cherry and strawberry and watermelon. Most of these terps are fairly common but chocolate was something completely different. Cuvee is not that staggeringly.

potent but the complex taste and cannabinoid profile is just pleasing. Then there is the resin…I mean it dumps caramel flavored trichomes all over hash screens, trim bins and bubble bags like no other. With skill, it is possible to find yourself producing an off-white hash that fades to a golden color like caramel.

Both Frenchy and the famous Water hash maker Mr.Bond ran some of my outdoor just before the cobb fire destroyed my home in California.

Nights before the fire Frenchy was at my home and I tried to give him a cut of Cuvee as the one he was holding had some issues. He said in his thick accent “My friend, Subcool, I can’t I am staying overnight in San Francisco”. A few days later Leo Stone of Aficionado Seeds was at my home and he is the person who gave Frenchy the cut. He too was not headed back up to Humboldt and said he would grab it another time.

We never got the chance and now his obligation to return the cut to me changed. The world of breeding and seeds changed fast to and things became extremely competitive so I could not reproduce Cuvee in original seed form any longer.

I reached out and fans returned seeds to me they had acquired online. The first 5 pack had 2 broken seeds in a broken vial (we now use plastic) so I started 3 and got one female plant. This IMO is where the story gets interesting, I grow many strains in my current caregiver garden and they’re all amazing, but the Cuvee quickly stood out again for resin production and happily a Chocolate female in just 3 seeds.

I cloned her and the 6 plants just kicked complete ass in my garden and provided these amazing shots. I found several packs of Cuvee at some smaller shops and was able to get not only 20 of them but also some Tinto De Verano (Taste of Spring) and I started a few more in mid-winter and found another nice female that I have growing in the bloom room now and she is already covered in fine resin. I would like to run through about a dozen females and then match her up with the male that I think will give me the best expression of the chocolate phenotype.

I started 6 more seeds so I can slowly watch the development of each one. After several weeks under my new LED Cob vegative area the plants started to show sex, first one female then two then finally all 5 of the plants I kept were female. Now a seed is determined in sex long before you plant it but I will always believe that there are other environmental factors when it comes to plant sex. Regardless, I have always got an insane number of females when germinating seeds. Let’s hope the male plant I need is lurking in the remaining seeds!

The other option is to find the best female and make some new things – I have 4 packs of Tinto De Verano in my safe as well. That is a cross of Pino Noir X JTR and the one female I grew out in the pool has so much resin I would consider it a mutation, but it is probably just the strain JTR is known for increasing resin production 5-fold.

I am now on my third rotation with the first female plant and so far she is the winner: she turns a deep purple (almost black), has a very rich chocolate coffee smell along with just smelling like killer hash. It is easily my favorite strain for making bubble hash and it is one of my favorite strains to share with others.

Everyone loves chocolate and when it comes in the form of dank cannabis it’s a win-win. If I am able to create something I am proud of it will be 2020 before I would release it so wish me luck on this mission to recreate the Dank!

Written and Published By Subcool In Weed World Magazine Issue 141