Any visitor to 12 Ridges Vineyard is guaranteed to be blown away by the mountain views and wine that demonstrate a ‘sense of place’. Located on an old Christmas tree farm, it has the vibe of a get-away retreat.

The tasting room adroitly maximizes their huge deck so guests can take in their surroundings. You can even hang out on the swing set at the top of the hill, overlooking the vineyard and Blue Ridge Mountains.

I’ll get to the wine in a moment, but before talking about that it’s important to explain *why* wine grown here is so special.

In telling the story of ‘how I started my winery’, owner Craig Colberg said when he bought the property in 2010, he didn’t have a specific long-term plan. Fortunately, Craig’s friends gave him the idea of planting a vineyard precisely to take advantage of its unique potential.

That’s because this place is all about location location location. Vineyard consultant Jake Busching planted the vineyard in 2018 fully knowing its terroir had the potential to make fantastic white wines, especially suitable to make sparkling.

12 Ridges opened in 2019, initially selling wine from other high-mountain sites while their vines matured. Their 20 acres are roughly equally divided between chardonnay, pinot gris, pinot noir, and riesling, with the first vintage coming out in 2022.

What You Need To Know About High Elevation Wine

Situated off northern end of the Blue Ridge Parkway, at 3,300 feet it’s the highest elevation vineyard in Virginia (and 2^nd highest in all the east coast). It also has rocky, well drained soils, important for producing high-quality grapes.

But 12 Ridge’s greatest advantage comes down to one word: acidity. Grapes grown at cooler sites retain higher levels of acid, making them crisp, food friendly and ageable. Acid is also one of the key components for sparkling wine. Not coincidentally, they planted slightly heavier on the chardonnay and pinot noir, as these are Champagne’s most famous grapes.

Higher elevation sites are by default cooler, an important advantage as global warming takes hold. That said, sites with high relative elevation (higher than the surrounding area) have a special additional advantage, referred to as a ‘thermal belt’.

Cold air is heavy and drops to lower elevations. As the cold comes in, it displaces lighter warm air which create a zone of warmer temperature above it.

It’s not uncommon for mornings at 12 Ridges to be a full 10 degrees warmer than the valley below, helping guard the vines from morning frost. Craig explained the diurnal temperature shift could take them from the upper 50s in the morning to highs in the 70s in the daytime.

High elevation sites have other advantages. Grapes grown in such locations are subjected to stronger UV rays, resulting in thicker skins that provide more intense color and bolder tannins. Stronger winds also reduce disease pressure, as good airflow removes moisture from the vines.

But as with nearly everything, there’s a tradeoff.

Winegrower Josh Seaman explained how 12 Ridges doesn’t have bud break until late April. While this puts them past much of the ‘danger zone’ of a spring frost, being 3-4 weeks behind the rest of the state elevates their risk to hurricane season.

Cool weather sites also must juggle the tradeoff between ripeness and acidity. Heat ripens grapes on the vine, but also causes their acidity to drop. The cool weather means 12 Ridge’s fruit struggles to ripen even into September. Windy conditions also make fruit set more difficult.

A Taste of Terroir

As of late 2023, 12 Ridges has only produced two vintages. Fortunately, Craig was very generous and let us try what he had.

While production should ramp up in the future, this is unlikely to ever be a high-producing site. The vineyard typically only produces 1 ton of fruit per acre, which is a lower yield than they’d prefer. Sadly, quantity is often the enemy of quality.

We also talked about their plans for a sparkling program. With acidity like this, the grapes here almost cry out to be made into sparkling wine. Their first release using chardonnay and pinot gris will come out in 2025, so I’ll have to be patient until then.

While the prospect of high-acid whites is enticing, I was just as excited at the prospect of more pinot noir. While there almost 50 acres planted in Virginia, I’d argue less than half of that is planted in cooler sites where it can reach its full potential. This is one of them.

I was also happy to learn their wine is made at newly-formed Common Wealth Crush, with Ben and Tim Jordan as their winemakers. Their low-intervention philosophy is a great fit for 12 Ridges, and Common Wealth Crush (which I visited later that day) has a great setup for both sparkling and still wine.

Over an extended tasting Craig and Josh discussed the lineup, and we found a lot to love. That said, if I *had* to pick a favorite, it would be the chardonnay.

This chardonnay was, not to exaggerate, my favorite Virginia chardonnay of the past year; and I’ve had a LOT of great chardonnay. To say I held back a tear when I learned there was none for purchase would be only a slight exaggeration.

What we tried:

• 2021 Chardonnay; fresh, high acidity. It also had surprising weight, with light apple notes which reminded me of a golden delicious. More Chablis than Burgundy in style, which in itself is very different from what you find elsewhere in Virginia.
• 2021 Riesling: Bright, green apple. Mostly dry with a sweet note at the end. Well balanced.
• 2021 Pinot Gris: Made in an orange wine style, which means they used white wine but didn’t remove the skin during fermentation. Tangy, weighty, and overall really nice and interesting.
• 2021 Pinot Noir: A bit heavier than a west coast pinot, but that’s not a negative; we all enjoyed it. Made using native yeast and a bit of whole cluster fermentation.

For those who are curious, here is a brief list of Virginia’s high-elevation vineyards.

1. 12 Ridges Vineyard: 3,300 feet
2. Rock Roadhouse Winery: 3,000 feet
3. Ankida Ridge Farm & Vineyard: 1,800 feet
4. Fox Meadow Winery: 1,750 feet
5. Stone Mountain Vineyards: 1,700 feet

This list could be even longer if I included vineyards in the Upper Shenandoah Valley / Roanoke / Wytheville areas. I omitted these locations because while they have raw elevation, the lack of ‘relative’ elevation (meaning the vineyards are closer to the valley floor) means those vineyards lack the ‘thermal belt’ and airflow needed to excel in the same way vineyard like 12 Ridges or Ankida can.

It’s tough to find a Virginia wine lover who’s unfamiliar with Ankida Ridge. While Ankida is one of the state’s more remote vineyards, being one of Virginia’s very few pinot noir growers make them one of the more famous.

Ankida is only 75 minutes from downtown Charlottesville, but the last leg of the journey is all uphill. You know things will get interesting when you pass signs that say “end of state maintenance” and your signal gets weak, but at least the views are beautiful.  

I’d been trying to meet up with owners Christine and Dennis Vrooman for a long time but always seemed to miss them. But this time I was in luck; Christine was happy to host a small group, and it was easy to find ‘volunteers’ to come with me.

With an elevation that tops out at 1,800 feet, Ankida is one of Virginia’s higher-elevation vineyards. While one wouldn’t blame the Vroomans for choosing the location for the view alone (which is technically true – the land was originally going to be a weekend getaway), its elevation actually serves a more practical purpose.

Standing on the deck of her tasting room overlooking the valley, Christine gestured at the scenery before us. “We have a little valley here and a little valley there, and cold air moves down them to the bottom of the mountain. We’ve never been touched by spring frost, and our disease pressure is low since we never get morning dew. I could have called it Utopia Ridge.”

The phenomenon Christine was referring to is called a ‘thermal belt’, and its why winegrowers prize mountaintop sites. Cold air is dense, and like water flows to the lowest point available. This in turn displaces lighter warm air which rises above it. This results in a narrow zone where the temperature is warmer than what is above and below it.

As Ankida is 1,000 feet higher than the bottom of the valley, the morning cold air passes through the vineyard but like an unwanted guest is shown the way out. This lets the vines stay within a consistent temperature range, one that is conducive for growing grapes. Christine explained their mornings start off warmer than the town below, but in the afternoon, the vineyard is typically 5-15 degrees cooler than the surrounding lower regions. Even in the hot 2023 summer the temperature never hit 90 degrees.

This climate (plus the ancient granite the vines are planted on) makes it a great place for pinot, gamay, and chardonnay; 6 acres in total. The first two grapes are nearly unheard of in Virginia, while the later retains a degree of acidity that’s rarely found.

This unique microclimate is the inspiration for an initiative that Ankida and nearby 12 Ridges Vineyard are working on; a new American Viticultural Area (AVA) dedicated to high-elevation vineyards.

Details are scarce since it’s mostly conceptual, but the idea is to have a non-contiguous AVA which only includes vineyards situated above a certain elevation. 1,000 feet has been bandied around as the measuring stick to join the club, but fine details such as the vineyard’s elevation in relation to its surrounding area are just as important as the site’s true elevation above sea level.

Fortunately for my group, Christine didn’t let my geeky wine questions stop her from pouring. Out came several cheese plates and a number of bottles, starting with their newest wine, the Blanc de Noir champenoise-style sparkling.

As much as I missed their Blanc de Blanc, this Blanc de Noir was equally good. Even in a lineup full of stars, it was special.

Next up were a pair of pinot-based wines; Ankida’s rosé and “Verday”, plus a chardonnay.

The rosé was nice, but I’ve had lots of great rosés and it was almost unfair to it put it next to a wine that truly surprised me; the Verday. Named after the light, refreshing wine that Portugal is known for, Verday had the same zestiest as any Vino Verde I’ve had.

Next up was their chardonnay. While the pinot noir gets the majority of the press, I think their bright & creamy 2021 Chardonnay should get equal billing. Not sure if I should give credit to the terroir or winemaker Nathan Vrooman, but dang I liked that one.

Then came a pair of pinot noirs; 2017 Reserve and 2019. The former was a special treat and made me kick myself for not ordering it while I could (granted it was $85…but still). 2021 wasn’t quite as complex but was still very quaffable. I was excited to learn that a 2021 Reserve was also in the works.

We ended the day sitting at the top of the vineyard finishing off the open bottles and admiring the view before heading home – but not before we were treated with a ride through the vineyard.

During a 4-winery visit weekend last month, a group of friends and I kicked things off with a visit to Mountain & Vine (which for now still goes by its old name, DelFosse).

I’d been to Mountain & Vine a few years earlier, but this was my first stop since they won the 2023 Virginia’s Governor’s Cup for their 2021 Screaming Hawk Meritage. If the chance to taste this wine wasn’t enough, getting to catch up with their new winemaker Stephen Barnard (formerly at Keswick) sealed the deal.

Mountain & Vine is located about 30 minutes SW of Charlottesville in the lower hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. It feels like an exceptionally rural area, but the tasting room is pretty and the view from the top of the hill is absolutely killer. They even have a B&B on the property.

Stephen was gracious enough to host my group, but we lucked out we also got to meet with owner Mike Albers.

He and his wife Adrienne purchased the property from Claude DelFosse in 2017. It didn’t make sense to keep the name of the old owner forever, but the Albers weren’t in a rush to change it either. They slowly shifted the name to Mountain & Vine, focusing on rebranding the name on the bottles as opposed to the name of website.

This new labeling proved fortuitous as their Cup win brought a ton of publicity. While the sign at the entrance still says DelFosse, they’ve almost completely pivoted to Mountain & Vine.

As for the vineyard, based on the slopes I saw it was easy to tell this is a great place for winegrowing. The have 17 acres vines using 11 varietals; all vinifera with the sole exception of some chambourcin. At an elevation of 850-1,100 feet, those vines are (for the most part) safely above the frost line.

Mike fully admitted that when he submitted the Screaming Hawk he thought it was a bit too young, but figured he’s submit it anyway just to get their opinion. Well – surprise! The judges obviously disagreed and he came away with the Cup.

Once Stephen came in from the vineyard we sat down for an extended tasting. As he’d only been here for a matter of weeks none of these wines were his, but that didn’t stop him from chatting them up. All in all we easily tried at least a dozen wines, all estate grown.

We kicked things off with the whites, and I found a lot to love. The Grand Cru Reserve is a rich white blend and one of my favorite wines of the weekend. I also loved the sauv blanc and chardonnay. I left with two bottles of the Cru.

For reds, obviously my favorite was the bigger, drier wines, but they had several options that were designed to be served chilled or could satisfy a sweeter audience.

The 50% Petit Verdot, 30% Cabernet Sauvignon, 10% Cabernet Franc and 10% Malbec Screaming Hawk was the favorite of the lineup. For a PV-heavy wine it didn’t taste overly ‘big’, and neither did I feel it was overly youthful. It was totally drinkable now and had Mike poured me more I would have finished it right there.

The runners up were their “Grinning Fox” (75/25 PV and Malbec), 2020 PV, and “1970” chambourcin. It’s not often that I’m impressed with chambourcin but I really liked the fruity-strawberry notes.

Rounding it out we tried a soft cabernet franc, the “Deer Rock” and the “Hippie Chick” that was more for a sweeter palate. Sadly no 100% Malbec (theirs is one of the few in Virginia); that was already sold out.

All the wines were good-to-great (even ones that normally don’t fit my palate). But if the quality wasn’t enough, I really appreciated how the prices were easily a good 10-20%-ish cheaper than elsewhere in the Charlottesville area. Being remote has other advantages.

To anyone who visits – TAKE PICTURES FROM THE HILL. The view alone is worth the trip.

Common Wealth Crush Co. (CWCC) is tough to describe at a glance because it has a lot going on. Its core business is to make wine for other customers (a process often called ‘custom crush’, but technically should be referred to as contract winemaking) but it also provides a venue for vintners to make their own wine. Winemakers Ben and Tim Jordan bottle under the Common Wealth Crush Co. logo, plus make wine for their personal and family brands.

CWCC is located in an old metal crafting facility in Waynesboro. While most of the space is dedicated to winemaking they also have a small tasting room which serves bottles from CWCC, Midland Wine (using fruit from the Jordan family farm in the Shenandoah Valley), Lightwell Survey (Ben Jordan’s side project), and Star Party (Tim Jordan’s side project).

The backstory to CWCC is the founders (Ben and Tim, plus partner Patt Eagan) recognized the Virginia wine scene needed a contract winemaking facility that is scalable to different customer needs. When locals think of this process they often think of Michael Shaps Wineworks, who famously makes wine on behalf of at least a dozen major customers. But others have gotten in on the action, recognizing a number of vineyards lack the space, funding, or expertise to support winemaking on their own property.

In most cases contract winemaking facilities do all the work from start to finish. While CWCC offers this same beginning-to-end service, what makes them different is they allow winemakers the option of renting space and equipment so they can do their own winemaking.

This is important as many small producers, including winemakers working on their own side projects, are at risk of being displaced from their existing facility should the owner require the extra space. This makes CWCC a great incubator for micro brands that need a place to call home for an extended period of time.

The Jordan brothers also make a ‘family of wines’ that are branded separately but share broad stylistic similarities. For one, all or nearly all the fruit used for CWCC, Midland, Lightwell, and Star Party wines are from the Shenandoah Valley, so they tend to be higher in acidity. Ben and Tim also share a love of fanciful labels, minimal intervention winemaking, and a flair for blending, often using varieties that are otherwise rarely seen together.

My group met up with partner Lee Campbell, a somm with extensive restaurant experience who previously acted as Early Mountain Vineyard’s New York state rep. Saying she’s a wine rock star is an understatement; we jumped at the chance of a tour.

Lee explained how their broad customer base requires multiple sizes and styles of fermentation vessels to meet different needs. Wandering down the aisles we saw a number of fiberglass tanks as well as more traditional steel ones. CWCC currently has 6 start-to-finish customers, 5 ‘winemaker’ customers, and several others who fell somewhere in-between.

After our tour we sat down for an extended tasting of CWCC, Midland, Star Party, and Lightwell wine in their cozy tasting area. Lee stayed with us to walk us through all the options.

Nearly all of these labels include ‘non-traditional’ blends or styles, which made for an exciting tasting. I soon realized with around 20 wine options at my disposal it was unnecessary to visit another winery afterwards.

There are far too many to list individually, so here are a few of the more interesting wines:

• Star Party 2021 Rosé, made with the hybrid noriet (their 2022 was a blend of chambourcin and traminette)
• Lightwell 2021 Colorwave Rosé, made with vidal, petit manseng, chambourcin and noriet.
• Lightwell “Btw Dark & the Light”, a co-ferment with 2/3rds grapes and 1/3^rd apples
• CWCC 2022 MISE, an orange wine with PM, sauv blanc, and chardonel
• CWCC The Artist Formerly Known as Sparkling, a white wine originally planned to be a sparkling but ultimately became a still wine
• Midland 2019 Petit Manseng, I can’t find my tasting notes but remembering having several stars next to it
• Midland 2018 Blanc de Blancs “Zero”, sparkling wine (also my favorite here)

20 potential tastings are too much for a single visit, but I did my best to sample the menu (being able to share with my group helped). Needless to say, we found a lot we liked and left with many bottles.

I asked about Lightwell Survey’s old space and was told they will continue to use it for big events. But otherwise, this is basically the new Lightwell tasting room.

I loved the entire idea of CWCC; you’ll have to make multiple trips before you try everything. I also love how Lee (and presumably others) are partners or otherwise paid staff since this is a gratuity-free space. With exciting wine and fair labor, so what’s not to love?