Chapel Down has credited a “step change” in how retailers are viewing English sparkling wine for another six months of solid off-trade growth.
Sales at the Kent-based winemaker surged 19% to £9.4m in the six months ended 30 June 2026, with off-trade sales up 18% to £4.4m. Net debt, meanwhile, climbed to £14m, up from £12.4m in FY25, as Chapel Down continued to invest in laying down vines to meet future demand.
Chapel Down CEO James Pennefather told The Grocer sales had been bolstered by its ‘Here’s to English Summertime’ marketing campaign, which included activations across major retailers this summer.
“We typically see a spike in consumption in the summer because of our sporting associations, our link with less formal celebration occasions and our fresh, crisp style of wines,” he said. “But our ‘Here’s To English Summertime’ marketing campaign, which ran across Waitrose, Majestic, Ocado, Sainsbury’s and Tesco, really drove significant volume growth.”
The campaign helped Chapel Down to grow ahead of the wider English sparkling category, which has climbed 15% in value in the past 12 months [NIQ 52 w/e 13 June 2026].
Retailers were increasingly viewing English sparkling wine as “accretive to champagne” and betting on the category to drive up the value of shopper’s baskets, Pennefather claimed.
“There has been a step change in customer support for English sparkling wine,” he said. “In the past six months there have been some really impressive gondola-end activations in Sainsbury’s and Waitrose for English wine. We’ve also just landed our first listings in Tesco Express and Little Waitrose.
“Retailers are really embracing the category and what it can do for them to expand the number of occasions on which high-value sparkling wine is consumed.”
International sales growth
Meanwhile, Chapel Down’s international sales climbed 66% to £800k, with the supplier having increased its US presence to 31 states via its tie-up with Jackson Family Wines.
England was increasingly seen as a “credible wine-making region” by US shoppers and Chapel Down’s wines were “resonating well” thanks to their “fresh, crisp” profile, Pennefather said.
“There is a strong affinity in the US with England and the UK because of London and the royal family, and that has also helped,” he added.
Chapel Down wines are now sold in 19 international markets, with international sales making up 5% of total revenues, a figure the business is aiming to nearly double to 9% by 2030.
Looking ahead to this year’s wine harvest, Chapel Down said it was expecting yield to be “broadly in line with the five-year average” thanks to the warm, sunny weather – offset by a late frost in May.
Chapel Down expects FY26 sales to hit £22.1m, with adjusted EBITDA of £3.7m, in line with market expectations.
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