Chapel Down Plans £6m Raise to Boost English Sparkling Wine Output

English winemaker Chapel Down is raising about 6 million pounds to finance and build a soft pressing facility at its Tenterden winery in Kent, a move designed to turn more of its harvest into premium sparkling wine. Shares rose 5.9 percent to 45p as investors welcomed the ambition behind the fundraising.

The cash comes from a 5.5 million pound placing at 43p a share plus 500,000 pounds through a rights issue, with details still to follow. Around 4.5 million pounds will fund the facility and the working capital it needs. The kit should let roughly 300,000 bottles a year be sold as higher-margin traditional method sparkling wine.

Chapel Down expects about 2 million pounds of extra annual gross margin and an internal rate of return above 20 percent. The facility should be fully operational for the 2027 harvest and shorten the pressing window by nine days. The company now targets 2.5 million bottles of traditional method fizz by 2033, two years earlier than planned.