Rathfinny Estate & Tasting Room, Sussex

What you need to know: The tour is both an enjoyable day out, and remarkable value (at £27 for two people). The tours are run in small groups and include a tasting at the end. To make the most of your day, book both a tasting and either lunch or dinner at one of the two restaurants. Lunch at The Tasting Room is offered as a set menu of 2 or 3 courses. The dinner menu is a tasting of 7 courses with a vegetarian tasting available. 

Verdict: My love affair with all things that sparkle has over recent years lead to me into the alluring clutches of English Sparkling Wine. There are some fantastic producers out there, making English Sparkling Wines (we must come up with a better name) in the Traditional Method – that is the labour intensive method used in the Champagne region that involves restricted grape varieties, two fermentations, and a lot of patience. Rathfinny is one such Estate – one of a few purveyors of Sussex Sparkling – an offshoot of wine producers who intend on getting Sussex wines the same protected status afforded to Champagne or Port. With climate change more apparent than ever, terroirs are adjusting, fast. In conversation, a sommelier and Master of Wine suggested the Champagne region in France may (one day) have to shift northwards should it wish to survive. The warmer weather means English Sparkling Wines, and particularly those from the South Coast, have come into their own – many beating their French competitors in blind tastings. Where once anything that wasn’t Champagne was deemed inferior, today you’ll notice Rathfinny on the wine list of many a Michelin Star restaurant – times are changing.

An invitation to the Estate proved impossible to resist and so an hour and a short taxi journey from London, I found myself in a vineyard that on a sunny day you’d be excused for believing was somewhere in the Mediterranean. The wine tour itself takes about an hour and guides you through the estate, where some 60,000 vines are grown. Rathfinny are only producing vintage wines and have gone to extreme lengths to integrate the Estate with the local environment. I shan’t bore you with more details of the tour itself as it will spoil your own experience – but this is an Estate that exemplifies a sustainability, and is run by people who are obsessed with the quality of what they’re doing.

Your tour ends with a tasting of 3 Sparkling wines and the single non Sparkling that Rathfinny produces (a rosé). This is a great introduction to the wines particularly if you’ve booked lunch or dinner at The Tasting Room – the Michelin Guide recommended restaurant also on the Estate (you must!) The menu at the Tasting Room is exactly what you’d want: a champion of local produce, mostly British, but with well thought out nods to further afield where appropriate. Start with the complimentary focaccia (made in house) and the Sourdough from the nearby Flint Owl Bakery with a bright yellow pat of soft Glastonbury butter. I think the bread basket was for two, I ate it all with no regrets.

Next, I opted for the grilled red mullet with gazpacho Andaluz and parsley aioli, which proved itself to be an optimal bread-dunking opportunity and a well thought out, vibrant plate not just to look at, but on the palate – where the silky fish combined with the crunch of fried garlic, and freshness of chive and a parsley espuma. The fish sat on a crisp crouton which both added texture and prevented it from swimming in sauce, but what a sauce! I’d gladly swim (or drown) in the gazpacho – the flavour of which felt like 1000 tomatoes in their prime, the perfect balance of sweetness and acidity, with a glass of Rathfinny in hand, I mused that if the tomatoes – and wine – get this good, then perhaps climate change might not be so bad a thing.

My next course was the lamb shoulder with spiced kofta, grilled aubergine, cucumber ketchup and carrot fregola. The plate was mostly a hit, but missed a few touches of finesse that would have turned a delicious dish into a sensational one. I found the kofta was a touch under seasoned, and could have easily have carried braver spicing. The lamb shoulder was not as tender as you would have expected for an 18 hour braise. That said, the smoky aubergine, that smeared on the kofte gave almost Middle Eastern flavours – was exceptionally tasty, as was the lamb with carrot fregola – a new one on me and one I’d be keen to repeat. The sides were so much more than sides, they were the two pillars on which the main course stood – buttery Jersey royals, skin on with crème fraiche and mint, and leaves with lemon oil from the nearby Namayasi farm – local speciality farm that grows the very finest produce for many Michelin Star restaurants. This approach was almost Italian- no fuss, no ceremony, no popping candy or fancy plates- quite simply a selection of stunning ingredients, plucked from the ground in their prime and simply prepared.

All things considered, I thought it would be rude not to order dessert. The apricot tartelette with whipped cheesecake topping, apricot sorbet and fig leaf gel, appealed to me greatly – by this point I’d had several glasses of Rathfinny and was thoroughly enjoying both the food and the panoramic views of the Estate and surrounding countryside. How better to finish the lunch than with a pretty, summery pud? It arrived like a ray of sunshine- a brilliantly short golden brown pastry topped with an almost savoury cheesecake, fresh fruit and a quenelle of zingy sorbet. What more could a person want? Another glass of Rathfinny of course! No sooner had the thought entered my mind than the waiter appeared to (kindly) top up my my glass.

How I made it to my train I’ll never know, but I knew even before then I would like to go back (they’ve a lovely small hotel on the Estate where I’d probably have stayed that night if it wasn’t full, and another, more casual restaurant to sample). The Rathfinny experience was one of such quality and generosity – a strong recommendation from me and I place I will most definitely return.

Sabrina Goodlife.