27 Mar 2012
First vines planted for England's boldest venture
![Image](/jancis-public/styles/article_xs_x1/public/legacy/images/articles/bf16ab95741b84f9963e9c8474d14dc81.jpg)
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...