A FEW YEARS AGO I WENT TO VISIT the then-nascent wine estate of Rathfinny, nestled above Cuckmere Haven between the South Downs and the English Channel. I was impressed by the scale and the ambition: vines marched far and wide over the rolling hills and valleys; the winery building was of a grandeur I’d never seen in England. But if asked for a word to sum up the essence of the place, I wouldn’t have said “wine”, but “money”.
