Plumpton College, and the growers it has trained.
By its own account, Plumpton College, near Lewes, has been the sole developer of training and education programmes for the English wine industry since the 1980s, and over 95% of wineries and vineyards across the UK employ staff it has trained. Plumpton College grows ten hectares of vines at Plumpton, where students and staff make the wine, and Henry’s Marani makes wine the Georgian way, in qvevri, at the college’s wine department.
Several of the county’s growers came through it. Paul Pippard took its Diploma in Wine Production while living in Camberwell, then planted Beacon Down near Heathfield in 2015. America Brewer studied wine production there before planting Oastbrook in 2018, on a sandstone ridge beside the River Rother. At Rathfinny Wine Estate, planted from 2012 on chalk above Alfriston, the two men who look after the vines both trained at Plumpton. Others go back further: Breaky Bottom, in a chalk valley near Lewes, was planted in 1974, and Ridgeview, at Ditchling Common in 1995.
Its vineyards sit on the Downs and in the Weald. At the Ditchling end of the Downs, Court Garden, Artelium and Everflyht, at the foot of Ditchling Beacon, are near Ridgeview. To the north, the Wealden countryside is sloping land and sheltered valleys on clay and sandstone, and ROSA Magazine describes the vineyards of Wealden District as mostly smallholdings and diversified farms. In 2024 Wealden District Council and local vineyards launched the Explore Wealden Wine Trail, with Blackboys, Hidden Spring and Beacon Down among them.
Rathfinny names Lewes, Polegate and Berwick as its stations, each reached from London Victoria without a change, then 10–20 minutes by car. Wildwood is a 12-minute walk from Eridge station, and can also be reached by heritage steam train on the Spa Valley Railway.
Award-winning in East Sussex
Mousehall is a medieval Sussex estate near Wadhurst producing wine as Tidebrook and spirits as Mousehall Spirits, with a stay in its 18th-century oast house.
Ridgeview is a family-run sparkling wine estate on the chalk of the South Downs in Sussex, planted in 1995 by Mike and Christine Roberts.
A Sussex producer of sparkling and still wines, whose working winery at Bee Tree Vineyard near Wivelsfield Green opens for booked tours and tastings.
Artelium is a contemporary wine estate near Hassocks, East Sussex, with two vineyards, a Cellar Door, a restaurant and a mission built on wine and art.
A family-run vineyard in a chalk valley of the South Downs near Lewes, making sparkling wine with Seyval Blanc as its principal grape. Wine is sold from the cellar door by appointment.
A family-run single estate in the High Weald of East Sussex, growing Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier for sparkling wine, with tastings and vineyard walks by arrangement.
Everflyht is a single-estate vineyard on 10 hectares at the foot of Ditchling Beacon in the South Downs, making English sparkling wine.
Henners is a family vineyard and winery in Herstmonceux, East Sussex, with an open cellar door for sparkling and still English wines.
Hoffmann & Rathbone is a small, appointment-only sparkling wine producer in the Sussex-Weald, releasing wine only in years its makers judge good enough.
Oxney is a Soil Association-certified organic single-estate vineyard in the East Sussex High Weald, with a walk-in wine tasting, its own shepherd's huts and a Jacobean house to stay in.
Plumpton College is the UK's Wine Centre of Excellence in East Sussex, teaching viticulture and oenology on its own ten-hectare vineyard since 1989.
Rathfinny is a single-site sparkling wine estate on the South Downs near Alfriston, planted from 2012 on the same chalk band that runs beneath Champagne.
A family-owned vineyard and winery in the High Weald near Heathfield in East Sussex, with an on-site cafe and shop, and owner-led vineyard tours that end in a tasting.
Bluebell Vineyard Estates is a Sussex vineyard that grew from a hobby into almost 100 acres of vines, close to the Bluebell Steam Railway.
Charles Palmer Vineyards is a family-run, 40-acre vineyard above the Cinque Port of Winchelsea, East Sussex, planted in 2006.
Court Garden is a family-run vineyard in Ditchling, East Sussex, whose sparkling wine has won International Wine Challenge trophies.
A family-run vineyard and winery in Horam, East Sussex, Hidden Spring pours its tastings in a purpose-built tasting room.
Mountfield is a small East Sussex vineyard producing English sparkling wine, fermented partly in oak barrels and aged long-term on the lees, from vines planted in 2012.
Oastbrook is a family-run vineyard and winery on the River Rother in East Sussex, growing both still and sparkling wine on a sandstone-and-clay ridge near Bodiam Castle.
Off The Line Vineyard is a vineyard and winery in East Sussex, making still and sparkling wine on six hectares in the Weald.
Tilsmore is a family-run sparkling wine estate in Mayfield in the Sussex Weald, with vineyard tours and tastings led by the family who grow the grapes.
All 34 to visit in East Sussex
ArteliumHassocks
Beacon DownHeathfield
BirchdenGroombridge
Blackboys Vineyard (Tickerage Wines)Blackboys
Bluebell Vineyard EstatesFurners Green- Breaky BottomLewes
Busi JacobsohnEridge Green
Charles PalmerWinchelsea- Clayton Hills
Coes FarmRotherfield- Court GardenDitchling
- DownsviewCrowborough
EverflyhtDitchling
HennersHerstmonceux- Henry's MaraniPlumpton
Hidden SpringHoram- Hoffmann & RathboneMountfield
- In The LoopCrowborough
MountfieldRobertsbridge
MousehallWadhurst
NewickNewick
OastbrookRobertsbridge
Off The LineHellingly
OxneyRye
Plumpton CollegePlumpton
Rathfinny Wine EstateAlfriston
RidgeviewDitchling Common
Sedlescombe OrganicRobertsbridge
Sugrue South DownsWivelsfield Green
The Secret VineyardHerstmonceux
TillinghamPeasmarsh- TilsmoreMayfield
- WildwoodTunbridge Wells
- WinklestoneFairwarp
Curated trips in East Sussex
Plan a trip to East Sussex
Pin estates onto a map, follow a curated itinerary, or stitch your own weekend together — drive times and tasting hours included.
