Birthday Trip to Where Heaven Meets Earth

I’ve gotten pretty old. You can hear it when I stand up, sit down, get in or out of the car, etc. I’m past the point where I want big birthday presents or parties. Don’t get me wrong, I want presents. But all I wanted for my birthday, was for Husband to take me in his Jeep Gladiator up to the overlook at Ankida Ridge.

I think even he was relieved, though we know he doesn’t like wine that much. But I made a reservation and made him commit. We ordered gas station sandwiches (this is a thing here too – we did this in Napa in 2006 and it was amazing, and now we’re doing it in greater Charlottesville…. who would have thought?) and hit Route 29 South for Amherst. We should have gone to the overlook last time we came, but we didn’t have the Jeep, and not knowing the state of the road up the mountain, we felt it best to bring a vehicle more suited to rough, inclined terrain. I also had a new club package to pick up, so it made sense to get back to Ankida with that vehicle – get the package, have some lovely wine, check out fall foliage, and have a relaxing day of forest-bathing.

We started our afternoon there just before noon, the second ones arriving (we were early again, but the Ankida team is so awesome they didn’t care and let us in and got us set up). We placed orders (2018 Stinson Meritage for hubby and a tasting flight of 2022 Vin Blanc, 2022 Stinson Rosé of Tannat, 2022 Pinot Noir and 2018 Meritage for me) and took our spot on the deck.

People who come to Ankida Ridge are lovely. We chatted with two couples who were there about all kinds of things: the wine, being educators, raising kids with cell phones and social media and being dog parents. It’s out of the way for the college kids to come and be crazy, so it is a more refined crowd that takes this trip. Like I said, I’m old.

The new Vin Blanc was lovely – it is incredibly crisp – I find Ankida’s Chardonnay to have the soft creaminess to it but the Sauvignon Blanc from Stinson really evened that out so that all that came across was crisp lovely white wine. Apples, and maybe some other white fruit too. It was great. The 2022 Pinot Noir is actually showing well for such a young wine, although a yellowjacket landed in my first glass and I had to request a replacement (which they very readily provided!). He was having a lovely time swimming however. Because of this wine’s youth there is a rougher quality to it – I think this is a great wine to showcase how time in bottle helps it refine itself and really show fruit flavor. Right now it’s earthy and dense and has a quality I felt was more similar to a Petit Verdot. Pinot Noir and Petit Verdot are not close cousins (at least my uneducated brain doesn’t think so). I enjoy drinking my tasting, but I’m laying my bottles down for at least a year. I did this with the 2021 when they released it about a year ago and it’s starting to drink just lovely right now.

With the leaves changing color, being here was possibly the most comfortable and relaxing way to spend the afternoon. It was about 5 degrees cooler at the tasting room than it was on the highway coming in, but the sun made it comfortable.

The leaves have only begun to change too – so I expect they’ll see a flood of folks at the winery in the next week or two.

I’m sad to report that several favorite wines are gone. No more Verday (the most incredible summer wine of this summer) (but I have one bottle left to share!), no more Rosé of Pinot Noir (I did grab two in my club box) and no more 2021 Pinot Noir (wow!). I grabbed a bottle of the Vin Blanc, chilled, for the ride up the mountain to the overlook.

The ride was 1000% worth it. In fact, it really brought joy to my celebration of my birthday. We grabbed 2 Adirondack chairs in the sun and sat looking out over the valley.

Though it was just under 60 degrees, we were in full sun so we were plenty warm, and we just sat, sipped Vin Blanc, and watched the day go by. We were soon joined (briefly) by a party that had been at the tasting room who had other wineries to visit that day, but all were amazed by the incredible scenery. And as we sat, we had several visitors:

It was kind of funny to watch them move through the vines and eat down the undergrowth. And then Lucci (the winery dog) came by as people left the house just slightly above us, and he stopped to say hi and headed down through the woods to the tasting room. I wish I’d grabbed a photo of you Lucci, but it was fun to watch you make your way down to the tasting room to greet the guests.

I cannot imagine a better way to celebrate this birthday than to have spent the afternoon looking out across the valley and soaking in the atmosphere. We’re on the edge of it getting really cold, so having this outside time was everything. When you swing by Ankida Ridge, be certain to take the time to go to the Overlook. You will be very very glad you did.