Chapel Down raises £5.5 million for Tenterden expansion after harvesting 2,706 tons in 2026
The English wine producer plans to add a fifth press and 10 tanks at its Kent winery for the 2027 harvest, increasing sparkling-wine capacity and processing speed. Its 2026 crop was smaller than in 2025 but is still expected to yield about 2.5 million bottles.
Financing the Tenterden expansion
Chapel Down has raised about £5.5 million from investors to expand production at its winery near Tenterden. The money will finance a new press hall, additional tanks and associated equipment that the English wine producer expects to have ready for the 2027 harvest.1
On Wednesday, November 4, the company said it had placed 12,790,697 new shares with institutional and other professional investors at 43 pence per share. About £4.5 million of the proceeds is allocated to a new soft-pressing facility. A separate retail offer, launched on November 5, sought up to about £500,000 more and was scheduled to close at midday on Monday, November 9.1
Directors committed £505,000 to the placing. Lord Michael Spencer and Nigel Wray, described as Chapel Down’s 2 largest shareholders, each invested £200,000; their respective holdings were 27.34% and 13.78%. The company also said 2 UK institutional investors had indicated cornerstone commitments totaling up to £2.5 million.1
Chief Executive James Pennefather said the placing had attracted strong backing from both new and existing investors. He said the soft-pressing facility would support better margins, quality and operational resilience.1
A fifth press and faster processing
The project will add a fifth press to the winery’s existing 4 and install 10 tanks of 50,000 liters each. It also covers automation and efficiency equipment, cooling, air and feeding systems, waste treatment, health and safety measures, and other construction work. Planning permission has been granted; work is expected to start in the final quarter of 2026, after the current harvest, and finish in July 2027.1
Daily pressing capacity is projected to rise from 90 tons to 140 tons. Chapel Down expects this to reduce the processing time for an average harvest from 30 days to 21, allowing grapes to be pressed closer to picking. The larger facility should also make it easier to process big harvests at Tenterden instead of sending fruit to third-party winemakers, which can increase costs.1
The company expects juice allocated to sparkling wine to increase from 550 liters per ton of grapes to 630 liters per ton. Sparkling wine’s share of Tenterden output is forecast to rise from 79% to 90%. Chapel Down said some juice currently pressed there goes into lower-priced still and carbonated wines.1
More traditional-method sparkling wine
Chapel Down is directing the investment toward traditional-method sparkling wines, which it identifies as its best-selling and most profitable products. According to the company, a bottle of sparkling wine generates roughly 4 times the gross margin of its other wines.1
For an average harvest, annual sparkling-wine production at the site is expected to increase from 2.1 million bottles to 2.4 million. In a large harvest year, output could reach 2.8 million bottles. About 300,000 bottles per year would be shifted from still and carbonated wine to sparkling wine, a change Chapel Down expects to add about £2 million in annual gross margin from 2030, when the first extra bottles should become available after aging.1
The company has advanced its long-term goal of selling about 2.5 million bottles of sparkling wine annually to 2033, compared with its previous target of 2035. Chapel Down said that volume would be equivalent to about 1% of worldwide Champagne volumes.1
The 2026 harvest
Chapel Down harvested 2,706 tons of grapes in 2026, compared with 2,882 tons in 2025. Yield was 3.0 tons per acre, 9% below the 5-year average of 3.3 tons per acre. The company attributed the reduction to a late frost in May that caused modest damage in affected areas.1
Despite the smaller crop, Chapel Down expects the 2026 harvest to produce about 2.5 million bottles of wine. It has access to 1,006 vineyard acres, including 897 acres in full production; about 3 quarters of the plantings stand on the chalk soils of the Kent North Downs.1
Sales and operations
Chapel Down reported half-year sales of £9.4 million, an increase of 19%. Its announcement concentrated on production and did not set out changes to visitor, retail, restaurant or tourism operations at the Small Hythe site near Tenterden. It also did not state whether construction from winter 2026 through July 2027 would affect access to the property.1
Sources
Written by the Dionysus editors from the sources above.
