England’s largest winemaker has reported a surge in Christmas sales, helping it bounce back from lagging trading earlier in the year and an aborted attempt to sell the company.
Chapel Down, which owns about a 10th of the vineyard space in England, said it sold about 7% more of its bottles, magnums and cases this Christmas than last.
The strong festive period puts a cork in an otherwise disappointing sales year for the winemaker, whose chief executive Andrew Carter is set to leave at the end of January to take over at Yorkshire regional brewer Timothy Taylor.
Chapel Down, which specialises in sparkling wine, a product that has grown in popularity as an alternative to champagne in recent years, suffered a slump in supermarket orders earlier in 2024.
It has previously blamed the fall in supermarket stock, known as the “off-trade”, on factors including the timing of retailers re-stocking.
Chapel Down said on Thursday that the issues were a “one-off” and that trading rebounded in the second half of the year to leave its final sales income at £16.3 million, 5% down year on year.
Mr Carter leaves after being forced to abandon an attempt to sell the company over the summer, after the board found there were no offers on the table that would “create superior long-term shareholder value”.
His replacement, James Pennefather joins from whisky producer The Lakes Distillery, which he led through a sale process to English sparkling winemaker Nyetimber for £71 million in June.
Meanwhile, sales in bars, restaurants and hotels, as well as direct-to-consumer sales from its vineyards, were stronger, with its on-trade business gaining 16% year-on-year to reach £2.5 million.
Andrew Carter said Chapel Down saw “continued strong consumer demand” in 2024, and that it “maintained its market leadership in the critical off-trade”.
“Chapel Down continues to consolidate its position as the leading English winemaker, with the strongest brand metrics and the deepest distribution in English wine.”
In October, it said it had taken a roughly £750,000 hit because of 2024’s difficult harvest, which hit all winemakers because of wet weather throughout the summer months.
Nonetheless, the group said it planted 118 acres of new vines, taking its total acreage to 1,024, about 10% of the UK’s total.
And stock levels also increased by about £4 million, it said, because of what it described as an “exceptional” harvest in 2023.
Mr Carter added that under his successor, the board’s confidence in the company, and English sparking wine industry, is “as strong as ever”.
