English winemaker Chapel Down saw sales increase by double digits in the first half of 2026, boosted by a 66% increase in exports.
The Kent-based winemaker booked a 19% increase in sales to GBP9.4m (US$12.5m) in the six months to the end of June, compared to the same period in 2025. Sales increased by double digits in all channels except for direct to consumer (D2C), spearheaded by a 66% leap in international sales to GBP0.8m.
While export & global travel retail combined only account for a small percentage of the company’s overall sales, growing international business has been a major focus for CEO James Pennefather since joining the company in February 2025. Chapel Down signed a US-wide distribution agreement with Jackson Family Wines in April last year, and has since expanded its distribution footprint from 23 to 31 US states and gained listings in 250 Whole Foods stores across the country.
By 2030, Pennefather is aiming to increase export sales from “under 5%” to 9% of total business, a target he said the company is “on track towards”.
“There’s still a huge potential for growth [in export],” Pennefather told Global Drinks Intel today. “If you look at the top-ten export markets for champagne, Chapel Down is currently only in five of them. So we have real ambition to to continue to expand into markets that we know are already drinking high-value sparkling wine.”
He added: “What I found in the US when I was there is that consumers are really interested in discovering new world wine categories, so there’s a discovery element of it … But then, secondly, the style of wine that we’re producing, which is cool-climate, fresh and crisp wine, is really favoured by a lot of US consumers at the moment.
“When one looks at the data there in terms of trends in the market, you’re seeing not only sparkling wine taking share from from still wine overall, but these more fresh, crisp styles taking share from the more heavily oaked styles that have been the mainstay of the US for a number of years.”
Though the brand is present in 19 markets – with shoots of growth noted in Norway and the UAE – Pennefather said the US is “by far the biggest”. Is it risky to put so many eggs into the US basket in the present climate? “The tariffs haven’t really impacted us, and certainly there seems to have been a lot more stability in the past few months, and we are fully expecting that to continue,” the new CEO assured.
Domestically, Chapel Down saw “broad-based growth” in both the on- and off-trade in H1. On-trade sales sped up in the period (+18% to GBP1.5m), thanks to “a lot of work [that] went in to winning new distributions over the course of last year”.
After seeing “overinflated” off-trade growth of 38% in its full-year 2025 – which Pennefather put down to rebalancing after “a destocking exercise” in 2024 – the retail channel saw an 18% increase to GBP4.4m in the first half of 2026.
In the company’s full-year results commentary, released in January, Pennefather hinted at plans to inject extra funds into brand building in 2026. The brand has since been signed as the ‘official English sparkling wine partner’ of both horse-racing organisation The Jockey Club and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, alongside a three-year renewal of its partnership with Ascot Racecourse. Last month, Chapel Down also opened The Hythe tasting room at its estate in Tenterden, Kent.
