Vineyards Near Brighton: Best Wine Estates to Visit in 2026

Brighton has been a gateway for day-trippers since the Victorians ran a railway line straight to the seafront. These days plenty of that traffic runs the other way - out from the station, into the chalk hills of the South Downs, to some of East Sussex's best vineyards.

Each entry below leads with what matters for planning a visit - tours or walk-in, what's on site, when it's open - so you can tell which one suits you without reading every paragraph. There's also a section on where to drink English wine in Brighton itself in case you want to enjoy the wine without leaving the city.

Vineyards to visit from Brighton

Wiston Estate

Artelium Wine Estate

Highweald Wine

Everflyht

Albourne Estate

Court Garden Vineyard

Bolney Wine Estate

Ridgeview Wine Estate

Rathfinny Wine Estate

Newick Wine Estate

Everflyht - 6.4 miles
Tours · Dog-friendly · Open April-October
A sparkling-only producer on chalk soil, run by a family living among the vines. Beyond the standard tour and tasting, they run "Stars Over the South Downs" stargazing evenings once the light fades. A 30-minute walk from Hassocks station gets you there without a car.

Court Garden Vineyard - 7.4 miles
Tours · Self-guided tours · Dog-friendly
Makes both sparkling and still wine, plus vermouth, from a single south-facing estate in Ditchling. Every visit - guided, self-guided or picnic tour - is booked through an online calendar rather than a walk-in shop. Two International Wine Challenge trophies back up the reputation. Around a 45-minute walk from Hassocks station.

Albourne Estate - 8.1 miles
Tours · Self-guided tastings · Shop · Dog-friendly · Open May-September (weekends)
Still and sparkling wine from Bacchus and Pinot Noir grapes. The tasting room and shop run weekends only through the season and close for winter, but there's more on offer than the standard walk and tasting - an e-bike wine tasting adventure, and a Friday Night Supper Club pop-up worth checking for separately. Around a 25-minute taxi from Brighton itself.

Artelium Wine Estate - 8.2 miles
Tours · Self-guided tastings · Restaurant · Dog-friendly · Open year round
Still and sparkling wine, with a restaurant on site, Artelium Kitchen. Public tours run Friday to Sunday; Tuesday and Wednesday are shop-only, no tastings. Often mapped as Hassocks online, but it sits closer to Streat and Plumpton - a 20-minute walk from Plumpton station.

Ridgeview Wine Estate - 8.5 miles
Tours · Walk-in option · Restaurant · Open year round
The name to know if you only learn one. Traditional-method sparkling wine from Chardonnay and Pinot Noir, with real pedigree - Decanter's Best Global Sparkling Wine in 2010, the UK Government's most-poured sparkling wine in 2024, and a pour at King Charles' first State Banquet. The Wine Bar and Shop are open to walk in without booking; a full Tour and Tasting needs a reservation, and the restaurant, The Rows & Vine, runs its own separate hours. A 30 to 40-minute walk from Burgess Hill station.

Newick Wine Estate - 12.2 miles
Tours
A newer name, planted on land with a history of growing the "Newick Leveller" dessert gooseberry. Tours run Friday and Saturday at 11.30am, booked in advance. The range so far is a Bacchus and a rosé, with a Blanc de Blancs sparkling due in 2028 - one to watch rather than a finished picture yet.

Rathfinny Wine Estate - 12.2 miles
Tours · Walk-in option · Restaurant · Open year round
In Alfriston, close to the coast, sparkling-focused, and substantial enough to anchor its own Vinebound town guide. The Cellar Door and The Hut wine bar are walk-in daily; Flint Barns Dining Room is the sit-down restaurant, open for dinner Wednesday to Saturday and Sunday lunch (their separate Tasting Room restaurant closed in January 2026, so check which venue you're booking). Around a 30-minute taxi from Eastbourne station.

Bolney Wine Estate - 12.3 miles
Tours · Walk-in option · Restaurant · Dog-friendly · Open year round
One of the oldest vineyards in the country, planted in 1972. Makes both still and sparkling wine, plus gin and vermouth, and was recently named in a national roundup of the UK's best orange wines - an unusual thing for a Sussex producer to be known for. The café and wine bar are drop-in; Eighteen Acre Restaurant runs its own hours worth checking ahead of a visit. Around a 15-minute taxi from Haywards Heath station.

Wiston Estate - 12.7 miles
Tours · Walk-in option · Restaurant · Dog-friendly · Open year round
Sparkling-focused, on ancient chalk downland near Washington. The Cellar Door is open Wednesday to Sunday without booking; the restaurant, Chalk, runs lunch the same days plus Friday and Saturday dinner. Around a 20-minute taxi from Pulborough station.

Highweald Wine - 12.8 miles
Tours · Walk-in option · Open year round (Fri-Sun)
Still and sparkling, hand-harvested and small-batch, and a member of Sustainable Wines of Great Britain. Tours are booked in advance, but the Garden Bar takes no table bookings at all - just turn up and find a spot among the vines. Around a 15-minute taxi from Burgess Hill station.

Two operators run vineyard tours that start in Brighton.

Shuttle & Vine is Brighton-based, with collection from the city itself. It covers nine estates - Ridgeview, Wiston, Albourne, Tinwood, Artelium, Bolney, Rathfinny, Court Garden and Everflyht. Private trips start from £90 per person; shared shuttle trips from £55.

Great British Wine Tours runs a shared Vintage Bus Wine Tour from Brighton every Saturday, April to October, at £135 to £155, alongside private, corporate and hen-party bookings. The itinerary rotates by date rather than following one fixed route - a September departure, for instance, visited Court Garden Vineyard and Everflyht.

Not every visit needs a car. Three Brighton venues are worth knowing for their wine lists generally, and each also carries genuine English wine worth seeking out specifically - a real part of the list, not the focus of it.

English's of Brighton, the city's oldest seafood restaurant, pours five English sparkling wines by the glass: Albourne Estate Multi Vintage, Nyetimber Classic Cuvée, Rathfinny Classic Cuvée, Roebuck Estate Classic Cuvée and Wiston Estate Brut NV. It's the closest thing Brighton has to tasting several of the vineyards above in one sitting, oysters included.

Hotel du Vin has a large, mostly French and international list, but pours Henners Brut NV by the glass and stocks Hambledon Blanc de Blancs by the bottle. Henners is the group's long-standing "principal English wine partner" across its Hotel du Vin and Malmaison sites, not a one-off feature.

Plateau, Brighton's natural wine specialist, is built almost entirely around small European producers, but carries two genuine English natural wines outside the usual sparkling mould: Ben Walgate's "W" rosato, made in Rye, and Tim Wildman's Somerset blend "Lost in a Field."