
The New Chardonnay
The Unlikely Story of How Marijuana Went Mainstream
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
$0.99/mo for the first 3 months

Buy for $18.00
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Heather Cabot
-
By:
-
Heather Cabot
About this listen
"The inside scoop on how marijuana landed on Main Street...and why it’s coming soon to a city near you." (Katie Couric)
From gleaming dispensaries stocked with elegantly wrapped edibles to the array of CBD lotions and oils for sale at your local drugstore to tastemaker Martha Stewart cooking up marijuana munchies on prime-time television, one thing is clear: Pot has fully shed its stoner image.
In this deeply reported journey into the new world of legal cannabis, award-winning reporter Heather Cabot takes listeners on the road with Snoop Dogg and his business partner, Ted Chung, as they roll out the star’s own brand of bud; to California wine country, where chefs and vintners are ushering in a new age of elevated dining; on wild adventures with marijuana mogul Beth Stavola, for whom fending off shady characters is just another day at the office; and to rural Canada to meet the Willy Wonka of Weed.
Drawing on exclusive interviews with some of the biggest names in the world of cannabis, Cabot’s book explores the confluence of social, economic, and political forces that have brought marijuana into the mainstream. Among them, outrage over the racial injustice of US drug laws, the booming self-care industry catering to stressed-out professionals and busy parents in search of better sleep and more sex, seniors clamoring for natural alternatives to opioids to manage their aches and pains, and tens of millions of investor dollars fueling a frenetic "green rush" mentality.
The story of an astonishing rebranding, The New Chardonnay explores how a plant that was once the subject of multimillion-dollar public service announcements came to spark new culinary trends; inspire new uses for health, beauty, and wellness; and generate hundreds of thousands of jobs and untold tax revenue - all while remaining federally illegal in America.
©2020 Heather Cabot (P)2020 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
-
The Cannabis Business Book: How to Succeed in Weed According to 50 Industry Insiders
- By: Michael Zaytsev
- Narrated by: Michael Zaytsev
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So you want to be a cannabis millionaire? In this audiobook, 50 industry insiders share what it takes to generate high R.O.I and succeed in the weed business. In the follow up to his best-selling The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Cannabis, Cannabis Business Coach and award-winning cannabis entrepreneur, Michael Zaytsev shares the strategies and tactics that transformed him from an idealistic 24-year-old with absolutely no knowledge of cannabis - except how to consume it - into one of the cannabis industry’s most consistently innovative, influential, and effective leaders.
-
-
Not informative
- By Louise Sandback on 12-02-21
By: Michael Zaytsev
-
Grass Roots
- The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America
- By: Emily Dufton
- Narrated by: Greg Baglia
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the last five years, eight states have legalized recreational marijuana. To many, continued progress seems certain. But pot was on a similar trajectory 40 years ago, only to encounter a fierce backlash. In Grass Roots, historian Emily Dufton tells the remarkable story of marijuana's crooked path from acceptance to demonization and back again and of the thousands of grassroots activists who made changing marijuana laws their life's work.
-
-
A must read
- By Carlos Garcia Sierra on 01-18-18
By: Emily Dufton
-
Smoke Signals
- A Social History of Marijuana - Medical, Recreational, and Scientific
- By: Martin A. Lee
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin A. Lee traces the dramatic social history of marijuana, from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in a culture war that has never ceased. Lee describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a dynamic, multibillion-dollar industry. Colorful, illuminating, and at times irreverent, this is a fascinating listen for recreational users and patients, students and doctors, musicians and accountants, Baby Boomers and their kids, and anyone who has ever wondered about the secret life of this ubiquitous herb.
-
-
A hard book for me to rate
- By Blake on 05-08-13
By: Martin A. Lee
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
-
-
Full Account of the Sackler Conspiracy
- By Edward Bisch on 04-13-21
-
How I Built This
- The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs
- By: Guy Raz
- Narrated by: Guy Raz
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Great ideas often come from a simple spark: A soccer player on the New Zealand national team notices all the unused wool his country produces and figures out a way to turn them into shoes (Allbirds). A former Buddhist monk decides the very best way to spread his mindfulness teachings is by launching an app (Headspace). A sandwich cart vendor finds a way to reuse leftover pita bread and turns it into a multimillion-dollar business (Stacy’s Pita Chips).
-
-
GET THIS BOOK!
- By Mattye LaSuer on 01-16-21
By: Guy Raz
-
Big Weed
- An Entrepreneur's High-Stakes Adventures in the Budding Legal Marijuana Business
- By: Christian Hageseth, Joseph D'Agnese
- Narrated by: Christian Hageseth
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Legal marijuana is the hottest story in the US today. Twenty-five states, and the District of Columbia, have authorized sales in some form; Denver has more legal marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks franchises. We are witnessing the dawn of a new industry. And like the early days of gourmet coffee chains, the rules and players are being established on the fly.
-
-
Loved every minute of it
- By Karen Erb on 11-13-15
By: Christian Hageseth, and others
-
The Cannabis Business Book: How to Succeed in Weed According to 50 Industry Insiders
- By: Michael Zaytsev
- Narrated by: Michael Zaytsev
- Length: 6 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
So you want to be a cannabis millionaire? In this audiobook, 50 industry insiders share what it takes to generate high R.O.I and succeed in the weed business. In the follow up to his best-selling The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Cannabis, Cannabis Business Coach and award-winning cannabis entrepreneur, Michael Zaytsev shares the strategies and tactics that transformed him from an idealistic 24-year-old with absolutely no knowledge of cannabis - except how to consume it - into one of the cannabis industry’s most consistently innovative, influential, and effective leaders.
-
-
Not informative
- By Louise Sandback on 12-02-21
By: Michael Zaytsev
-
Grass Roots
- The Rise and Fall and Rise of Marijuana in America
- By: Emily Dufton
- Narrated by: Greg Baglia
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the last five years, eight states have legalized recreational marijuana. To many, continued progress seems certain. But pot was on a similar trajectory 40 years ago, only to encounter a fierce backlash. In Grass Roots, historian Emily Dufton tells the remarkable story of marijuana's crooked path from acceptance to demonization and back again and of the thousands of grassroots activists who made changing marijuana laws their life's work.
-
-
A must read
- By Carlos Garcia Sierra on 01-18-18
By: Emily Dufton
-
Smoke Signals
- A Social History of Marijuana - Medical, Recreational, and Scientific
- By: Martin A. Lee
- Narrated by: Nick Podehl
- Length: 21 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Martin A. Lee traces the dramatic social history of marijuana, from its origins to its emergence in the 1960s as a defining force in a culture war that has never ceased. Lee describes how the illicit marijuana subculture overcame government opposition and morphed into a dynamic, multibillion-dollar industry. Colorful, illuminating, and at times irreverent, this is a fascinating listen for recreational users and patients, students and doctors, musicians and accountants, Baby Boomers and their kids, and anyone who has ever wondered about the secret life of this ubiquitous herb.
-
-
A hard book for me to rate
- By Blake on 05-08-13
By: Martin A. Lee
-
Empire of Pain
- The Secret History of the Sackler Dynasty
- By: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Narrated by: Patrick Radden Keefe
- Length: 18 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The prize-winning and best-selling author of Say Nothing presents a grand, devastating portrait of three generations of the Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium and whose reputation was destroyed by OxyContin. Empire of Pain is a masterpiece of narrative reporting and writing, exhaustively documented and ferociously compelling.
-
-
Full Account of the Sackler Conspiracy
- By Edward Bisch on 04-13-21
-
How I Built This
- The Unexpected Paths to Success from the World's Most Inspiring Entrepreneurs
- By: Guy Raz
- Narrated by: Guy Raz
- Length: 10 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Great ideas often come from a simple spark: A soccer player on the New Zealand national team notices all the unused wool his country produces and figures out a way to turn them into shoes (Allbirds). A former Buddhist monk decides the very best way to spread his mindfulness teachings is by launching an app (Headspace). A sandwich cart vendor finds a way to reuse leftover pita bread and turns it into a multimillion-dollar business (Stacy’s Pita Chips).
-
-
GET THIS BOOK!
- By Mattye LaSuer on 01-16-21
By: Guy Raz
-
Big Weed
- An Entrepreneur's High-Stakes Adventures in the Budding Legal Marijuana Business
- By: Christian Hageseth, Joseph D'Agnese
- Narrated by: Christian Hageseth
- Length: 6 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Legal marijuana is the hottest story in the US today. Twenty-five states, and the District of Columbia, have authorized sales in some form; Denver has more legal marijuana dispensaries than Starbucks franchises. We are witnessing the dawn of a new industry. And like the early days of gourmet coffee chains, the rules and players are being established on the fly.
-
-
Loved every minute of it
- By Karen Erb on 11-13-15
By: Christian Hageseth, and others
-
Big Lucky
- Serial Entrepreneur Jim Markham's Secret Formula for Success
- By: Jim Markham
- Narrated by: Jim Markham, Lauren Wild
- Length: 5 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With five successful companies to his name and over $1.2 billion in combined retail sales, serial entrepreneur Jim Markham has made an indelible mark on the hair care industry. Across six decades, he has built a legacy of innovation that has forever changed how people care for their hair. But the path to success wasn't foregone, obvious, or easy. In his early years, nobody would have wagered on his success. Armed only with sheer determination and an unflappable confidence that he was meant for something bigger, Jim fought to make it from the bottom to the top - more than once.
-
-
Great Book!
- By Jay Markham on 02-25-20
By: Jim Markham
-
My Life in Full
- Work, Family, and Our Future
- By: Indra Nooyi
- Narrated by: Indra Nooyi
- Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
For a dozen years as one of the world’s most admired CEOs, Indra Nooyi redefined what it means to be an exceptional leader. The first woman of color and immigrant to run a Fortune 50 company - and one of the foremost strategic thinkers of our time - she transformed PepsiCo with a unique vision, a vigorous pursuit of excellence, and a deep sense of purpose. Now, in a rich memoir brimming with grace, grit, and good humor, My Life in Full offers a firsthand view of Nooyi’s legendary career and the sacrifices it so often demanded.
-
-
Even Better Than Expected
- By Tammi Banks on 09-30-21
By: Indra Nooyi
-
The Secret Life of Groceries
- The Dark Miracle of the American Supermarket
- By: Benjamin Lorr
- Narrated by: Benjamin Lorr
- Length: 8 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The American supermarket is an everyday miracle. But what does it take to run one? What are the inner workings of product delivery and distribution? Who sets the price? And who suffers for the convenience and efficiency we’ve come to expect? In this rollicking exposé, author Benjamin Lorr pulls back the curtain on this highly secretive industry.
-
-
Fucking Exceptional
- By Amazon Customer on 02-23-21
By: Benjamin Lorr
-
Billion Dollar Loser
- The Epic Rise and Spectacular Fall of Adam Neumann and WeWork
- By: Reeves Wiedeman
- Narrated by: Will Collyer
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This inside story of WeWork and its CEO tells the remarkable saga of one of the most audacious, and improbable, rises and falls in American business history. Veteran journalist Reeves Weideman dives deep into WeWork and its CEO's astronomical rise, from the marijuana and tequila-filled board rooms to cult-like company summer camps and consciousness-raising with Anthony Kiedis. Billion Dollar Loser is a character-driven business narrative that captures, through the fascinating psyche of a billionaire founder and his wife and co-founder, the slippery state of global capitalism. \
-
-
Engrossing and we’ll researches but narration is annoying
- By ceire Gleeson on 10-27-20
By: Reeves Wiedeman
-
Wildflower
- A Memoir
- By: Aurora James
- Narrated by: Aurora James
- Length: 7 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Aurora James’s life is a great American “success story”—precisely because it looks so different from others we’ve seen. Scouted as a teen model, James struggled with body image and became disenchanted by the industry’s objectification of women and commodification of race. After she’d hit rock bottom, dropping out of high school and being arrested for street racing, she was forced to reshape her life. A slew of fashion-related jobs led James to discover the power of the runway, and she started her own business in a flea market.
-
-
Mesmerizing!
- By Julie on 05-15-23
By: Aurora James
-
KasiNomic Revolution
- The Rise of African Informal Economies
- By: GG Alcock
- Narrated by: GG Alcock
- Length: 7 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Prepare for this new generation, prepare for the Afripolitan Generation. A revolution is taking place in the great marketplaces of the informal sector and it contains an unquantified scale and power as an economic engine and a way of life for the majority of our low-income populations. The KasiNomic Revolution may still be a murmur in the streets, a grassroots economic groundswell, but it is the future of African economic activity.
-
-
Exciting and Eye Opening
- By Hendrik on 12-11-23
By: GG Alcock
-
The Club King
- My Rise, Reign, and Fall in New York Nightlife
- By: Peter Gatien
- Narrated by: Braden Wright
- Length: 8 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this frank and gritty memoir, Peter Gatien charts the seismic changes in his personal and professional life and the targeted destruction of his nightclub empire. From Peter’s childhood in a Canadian mill town to the freedom of the 1970s, through the excesses of the 1980s and the ensuing crackdown in the 1990s, The Club King chronicles the birth and death of a cultural movement--and the life of the man who was in control of every beat.
-
-
Story of the Club King-Superb Narration
- By Admiralu on 09-01-22
By: Peter Gatien
-
Made from Scratch
- The Legendary Success Story of Texas Roadhouse
- By: Kent Taylor
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 8 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In Made from Scratch, the late business maverick Kent Taylor tells the legendary story of Texas Roadhouse and in the process reveals its recipe for success: embracing unorthodox business practices. Because isn’t it a little unusual for a company to do almost no advertising? Is it wild to give away free peanuts and rolls and keep prices low, even as costs rise, or to keep the menu basically the same since it opened? Does it fly in the face of reason to prohibit coats and ties at headquarters and to have a CEO who dressed like he was part of the landscaping crew?
-
-
rock on
- By Eric Bourgeois on 09-16-21
By: Kent Taylor
-
The Cult of We
- WeWork, Adam Neumann, and the Great Startup Delusion
- By: Eliot Brown, Maureen Farrell
- Narrated by: Thérèse Plummer
- Length: 13 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
WeWork would be worth $10 trillion, more than any other company in the world. It wasn’t just an office space provider. It was a tech company - an AI startup, even. Its WeGrow schools and WeLive residences would revolutionize education and housing. One day, mused founder Adam Neumann, a Middle East peace accord would be signed in a WeWork. The company might help colonize Mars. And Neumann would become the world’s first trillionaire.
-
-
Incredible
- By Reeka on 08-02-21
By: Eliot Brown, and others
-
The Unwinding
- An Inner History of the New America
- By: George Packer
- Narrated by: Robert Fass
- Length: 18 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Unwinding, George Packer, author of The Assassins’ Gate: America in Iraq, tells the story of the United States over the past three decades in an utterly original way, with his characteristically sharp eye for detail and gift for weaving together complex narratives. The Unwinding portrays a superpower in danger of coming apart at the seams, its elites no longer elite, its institutions no longer working, its ordinary people left to improvise their own schemes for success and salvation.
-
-
Can't understand the low ratings!
- By Janet Pittman Henley on 05-27-13
By: George Packer
-
High-Hanging Fruit
- Build Something Great by Going Where No One Else WIll
- By: Mark Rampolla
- Narrated by: Mark Rampolla
- Length: 6 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When Mark Rampolla filled a notebook with potential start-up ideas, his wife asked him some tough questions. What about this idea is exciting, beyond the possibility of a profit? How will it fit into a life that makes you and your family happy? How will it change the world? Eventually Mark found his great idea: coconut water. He had seen the developing world use coconut water, but this valuable resource was being discarded in the US. While taking on the beverage industry was a big goal - high-hanging fruit - it was worth the risk.
-
-
10 Chapter Infomercial
- By KIM WILLIAMSON on 02-16-20
By: Mark Rampolla
-
Quench Your Own Thirst
- Business Lessons Learned over a Beer or Two
- By: Jim Koch
- Narrated by: Jim Koch
- Length: 7 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Founder of The Boston Beer Company, brewer of Samuel Adams Boston Lager, and a key catalyst of the American craft beer revolution, Jim Koch offers his unique perspective when it comes to business, beer, and turning your passion into a successful company or career.
-
-
Great Story!
- By Mary K on 05-20-16
By: Jim Koch
Critic reviews
"The recasting of the cannabis consumer from stoner on the sofa to yoga-mat-toting Whole Foods shopper is delightfully chronicled in Heather Cabot’s book The New Chardonnay." (Financial Times)
“Filled with thought-provoking interviews and a cast of characters including Snoop Dogg and his business partner Ted Chung...this fun and enlightening read accurately summarizes the forward momentum that the cannabis industry has enjoyed these past few years, and provides an in-depth look at the movement's influence on social justice, modern cultural norms, and politics.” (Booklist)
"The New Chardonnay reads more like a novel than investigative journalism as Cabot presents the fascinating tale of how cannabis went mainstream. From ruthless Las Vegas kingpins vying to open the first pot shops in the state to the senior citizens riding a cannabis shuttle to stock up on staple and THC tea parties for Bay Area mommies, this well-researched story of how the once ‘evil weed’ became a multibillion-dollar industry is a page-turner.” (Lee Woodruff, New York Times best-selling author of Those We Love Most)
What listeners say about The New Chardonnay
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Cindy Yam Rentala
- 08-31-20
Incredible story about the growth of the cannabis industry
Great book on the rise of the cannabis industry and its pioneers in the US and Canada. Heather is proven again to be a wonderful storyteller.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Barbara
- 08-30-20
Great to hear the stories behind this booming, complicated market
I didn’t know much about the business of cannabis when I decided to read this book. What works really well is Cabot’s combination of journalistic style along with her great storytelling ability. The book has everything from celebrities like Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart to unknown entrepreneurs who go from zero to billions. Really engaging stories. I listened to the audiobook which made it even better.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
- Alix Farhat
- 10-17-20
Interesting but badly narrated
It is an interesting book if you dont know anything about Cannabis, but the Narrator was driving me bunkers.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
You voted on this review!
You reported this review!