(Eater) - As marijuana goes mainstream, the conversation around it has become increasingly sophisticated—with the kind of emphasis on producers, clones, terroir, and even tasting notes that one more typically associates with wine.

For those who reside in one of the twenty-three states (and the District of Columbia) that has laws legalizing marijuana in some form, it’s likely that you know at least one person with a medical marijuana card. If you’re lucky enough to live in Oregon, Washington, Colorado, or Alaska, you don’t even need one to get stoned.

In some ways, pot enthusiasts are starting to style themselves more like sommeliers—even taking on names like ganjiers and cannasseurs. According to Allison Edrington, Editor-in-Chief of cannabis website The Ganjier, the term ganjier was spawned by the site’s co-founder, Kevin Jodery, and "a couple of guys" who wanted to create a word to describe themselves, but that could also be applied to any cannabis expert.

"The word ganjier is a play off of sommelier and it means having that knowledge of cannabis at a high level that involves a lot of passion," says Edrington. "It’s a way of reclaiming status in a culture that has been, in a lot of ways, denied—so adopting words like cannasseur is taking it back—playfully adopting it." A cannasseur, Edrington explains, refers to someone who enjoys, and is very well versed in, the flavors and the experience of marijuana. One who can evaluate the drug, but may not be on the production side, like a ganjier.

As cannabis enthusiasts adopt a more serious approach to getting high, sommeliers are looking at wine in a newly relaxed and casual way. Thusly, both groups are working to transcend stereotypes fixed to their respective cultures for decades, and to appeal to a broader audience.

Consider, The Clever Root, a new online magazine from those behind two very serious wine publications—The Tasting Panel and The Somm Journal. According to Meridith May, the publisher of all three magazines, The Clever Root is about "everything that grows," including marijuana, and the site even employs Edrington as its Cannabis Editor.

It’s also an open secret among wine professionals that many California producers make weed-infused wines—popular varietals include syrah, cabernet, grenache, and viognier—for private consumption, or for sharing with friends. Making weed-wine involves co-fermenting wine with weed, and adding a portion of dried and ground marijuana to a barrel while the wine ferments, at which point THC is extracted and infuses into the wine over the course of about nine months.

Eamon Rockey, co-owner of Betony restaurant in New York City, recounts the first time he tasted weed-infused wine from the personal stash of a popular chef who was sharing the potion at a birthday bash:

"[The chef] poured some wine he was keeping behind the bar and challenged us to taste it and guess the varietal. I was with some serious somms and we were all swirling, and sniffing, and not getting it, until my friend started giggling, and eventually the bartender tells us it’s chronic.