Ankida Ridge Vineyards

Hours: Year Round

Far away from the cities on a steep eastern slope of Virginia's Blue Ridge Mountains, sets a little vineyard.  We planted these tightly spaced vines of the Burgundian grapes, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay, at an elevation of 1800 ft, amongst the rocks and steep narrow rows of vines.  There is no level ground underfoot.  And the rocks! Oh, the rocks.  Multiple tons of rocks were removed to make room for the vines.  This was no easy cow pasture in which to plant vines, and we asked ourselves more than once, "What were we thinking?!" Trying to grow grapes on a mountainside is no easy endeavor.   But we continued to work the rugged land, tended lovingly to the vines and held on to the belief that this little spot of earth was a good site, a very good site, to create beautiful wines.  The views are majestic and the mountain air is clean and fragrant with seasonal perfumes that would be infused into the grapes themselves.  The beauty of this place had to be expressed in our grapes.   We held on to that dream and patiently and steadfastly worked until the day would come when we could taste the wine made from the grapes raised on this land that we love. That day  finally came in the summer of 2011.  Our little vineyard, planted in 2008, produced our first crop in 2010.  After that fall, winter and spring, after fermentation and aging, and bottling and waiting for it to settle, we finally tasted the wine from our land... a small pour in a glass, a sniff of its bouquet.   Our first vintage surprised not only us, but many palates much more refined than ours.   We held the glass up to the sky, looked at each another and smiled.   A clink of the glass... Cheers!! And it just keeps on getting better and we are ever so grateful.