Britain's biggest wine-grower – in 2017?

A contender for quote of the week in today's Independent:  “My ambition is that in 15 years time you’ll walk into a bar and the barman will say, would you like a glass of champagne, or would you like a glass of Sussex?”

The ambitious speaker in Mark Driver, ex Something-in-the-City, now running a 400-acre farm on the South Downs. His Rathfinny Estate, near Alfriston, is the newest addition to a growing list of English vineyards.

 

Mark Driver: planning to produce a million bottles a year

 
“We’re still just a pimple in terms of production compared to champagne,” Driver says, standing in his wellies between his vines. Last year, Britain produced about three million bottles of wine, about 60 per cent of it  sparkling. Champagne alone produces 385 million bottles a year, more than 100 times as much.

But, Driver adds: “the best quality sparkling wine in the world is now being made in England.”

Driver planted his first 75,0000 vines in March 2012 on about 50 acres of the land he bought for almost £4m in 2010. That's him in the You Tube video at the time, before last year's summer turned rotten.

His gently sloping estate forms a natural amphitheatre facing the Cuckmere river, which meanders  towards the sea and the rolling chalk cliffs known as the Seven Sisters.

If all goes to plan, Driver says he’ll eventually produce a million bottles a year, making Rathfinny England’s largest vineyard.

He’ll have stiff competition. A bubble beltway stretching across southern England includes at least half a dozen serious vineyards with a growing focus on sparkling wine. More than 80 British wines won prizes at this year’s Decanter World Wine Awards, with two sparklings, from Camel Valley in Cornwall and the Hush Heath Estate in Kent, claiming coveted gold medals.

After giving up his life in the City, Driver enrolled on a wine course at Plumpton College near Lewes in East Sussex, where demand is booming among would-be wine growers and makers. He was already looking for land during a two-year foundation course.

To make his wine, Driver  recruited Jonathan Médard, who was born in Champagne and trained at some of its top houses. The Frenchman says he revels in the freedom of English vineyards, away from the tradition and rules that govern champagne. But, he says: “I’m not allowed back in France!” He’s only half-joking. Driver recalls a visit to Epernay, Médard’s home town, where the men were looking at wine presses. “We walked into this bar and were greeted with open arms by the owner, who remembered Jonathan. ‘Where have you been?’ he asked. Jonathan said, ‘Well, I’m now making wine in England.’ This chap said, ‘Shame on you,’ turned and walked off. It was just fantastic.”

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