Owner & Vineyard Manager

Ankida Ridge Vineyards is one of the East Coast’s premier Pinot Noir producers and Christine is passionate about implementing environmentally sensitive practices in their vineyard and balancing the considerations of nature with the pragmatism of producing a crop in the humid Mid-Atlantic regions. She embraces the French philosophy of “la lutte raisonnée,” the reasoned struggle. Christine and Dennis Vrooman, along with their winemaker son, Nathan, proved that the high elevations of the cooler, rocky Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia have the potential to become a prominent world-class Pinot Noir producing region. Ankida Ridge is recognized with high praise in Hugh Johnson’s Pocket Wine Book 2020, and their Pinot Noir was recognized as a “Top Ten Hot Brand 2017” by Wine Business Monthly. Ankida has also been an invited winery to Oregon’s acclaimed International Pinot Noir Celebration (IPNC).  

Christine has been active in the Virginia wine industry, including serving on the VA Sustainability Workbook Committee, the Virginia Wine Marketing Grant Committee, writing for Virginia’s Grape Press Leaning Green column, and serving as a passionate ambassador of the Virginia wine industry.

E08 | Growing & Making Quality Pinot Noir