Wine and Dine
An English vineyard is taking its food outdoors to pair with its award-winning wines. RUPERT BATES heads to Ridgeview in Sussex.
There is perhaps only one hospitality reputation rising at the same rate in the UK as live-fire cooking and that is English sparkling wine – a marriage made in culinary heaven.
When it comes to sparkling wine, viticultural heaven on earth – or terroir – is the county of Sussex, and in particular the Ridgeview estate in the South Downs near the village of Ditchling. Wine, with Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier grapes flourishing at this B Corp accredited vineyard, is, of course, the hero. But food, served inside and out, is elevating the visitor experience at Ridgeview still further.
The Rows & Vine is the restaurant onsite at the winery, moving outside for spring and summer, as well as the potential to introduce open-fire dining and immersive masterclasses from pitmasters. Bubbles loves a BBQ. Let fizz meet fire.
Simon and Tamara Roberts
Ridgeview, with sustainability at its core, regularly triumphs on the world stage as an award-winning winemaker, including being voted World’s Best Sparkling Wine by Decanter up against the world’s finest Champagne houses and, last year, Ridgeview won the Best UK Winery Club award. Other accolades include being crowned the world’s best at the International Wine & Spirit Competition in 2018 and named 35th in the Top 50 World’s Best Vineyards in 2019.
Next year, this second-generation family business, led by CEO Tamara Roberts and her brother and head winemaker, Simon Roberts, celebrates 30 years of viticulture and sustainable winemaking.
“We are purpose-driven and committed to making a positive impact on the world around us. We strive to make our business a force for good. Our ambition to be at the forefront of sustainable and ethical practices for the English wine industry, means making every step of our production journey as efficient, ethical and ecologically positive as possible, from grape to glass,” says Tamara Roberts.
The Rows & Vine restaurant, under head chef Neill Kefford and championing local, seasonal produce, was completed in 2022 as ‘not simply a restaurant, but a unique English wine experience, the beauty of an al fresco space where you are outside amongst it all, sharing the magic of winemaking.’
Martin Garner, head of hospitality at Ridgeview, says the vision is to create the ultimate, immersive food and drink experience. You look over the Chardonnay vines and beyond to the hills of the South Downs National Park, with the native woodland of the estate another frame of reference and reverence. The dining space is a series of covered pavilions from Caribbean Blinds, open or closed to allow for all weathers, playing with light and shade, with a central bar area wrapped in cedar and a wall of natural flint. You suspect if Sussex artist Eric Ravilious, renowned for his watercolours of the South Downs and its landscapes, was alive today he would take his easel to the raised Ridgeview terrace. He’d enjoy a glass of Bloomsbury too.
Ridgeview wines are natural food pairings, be it the depth and complexity of the Pinot dominance in the Cavendish to match with duck, the toasted spice of the Blanc de Noirs to go with lamb, or the Blanc de Blancs single estate Chardonnay to pair with scallops and lobsters.
“Our philosophy is ‘life is for celebrating’ and we want guests to experience this in every aspect of our estate,” says Tamara Roberts.
The time is ripe to pop a cork and light a fire. Let the party begin.
