First vines planted for England's boldest venture

Yesterday saw a posse of national and international media teams assembled to witness the first vines being planted (see the action for yourself here) in a new Sussex vineyard called Rathfinny, heralded a year ago in How good is English fizz?. It is one of many such enterprises in southern England driven by a belief in the potential for English wine.

It is the scale of Rathfinny that merits mention: this will be one of England's largest and most ambitious vineyards, with 400 acres earmarked for planting between now and 2020. The majority of the vines will be...