Winemaking Philosophy

Chapel Down is rapidly establishing itself as a world class premium wine brand and is gaining National and International recognition. We are proud to be the first ever English producer to wine a gold medal for sparkling wine at the prestigious International Wine Challenge. And we are getting better with every vintage.

Our business is growing all the time and our greatest challenge is making enough wine to satisfy the demand. Today Chapel Down wines are surprising and delighting informed wine drinkers all over the world; you can find us in bars, restaurants and wine stores in Paris, Sweden, Japan and Hong Kong, as well as the better hotels, restaurants and stores in the UK.

Everything we are doing, and have done at Chapel Down has been with the express aim of continually improving our wines. Thanks to the investment and faith of our shareholders, with every new vintage we achieve wines with greater degrees of finesse and elegance that reflect the distinct character and flavour of our region.

Everyone at Chapel Down has great belief in our product and in our future as a producer of world class wines. As the demand for our premium wines has increased we have taken the steps to uproot some of the older, Germanic grape varieties like Schönburger, Reichensteiner and Muller-Thurgau and embarked on an ambitious planting programme for noble grape varieties like Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and Pinot Blanc, which are highly suited to our cool climate and which make wines of greater style.

Above all, we intend to continue producing world class wines with a real passion, dedication and pride that the Chapel Down brand has come to represent. Come and visit us at Tenterden and witness the start of an exciting new chapter in English Winemaking.

Winemaking at Chapel Down

At Chapel Down we source grapes from contracted growers across the south-east of England and work with them to ensure the highest quality standards. All grapes are vigorously checked on arrival at the winery and we accept only the very best fruit for our wines.

We are fortunate in the South of England to have soil types that are perfect for producing elegant, cool climate wines. Across the South Downs we have a chalky soil that is a geologically similar to Reims and Epernay in the Champagne region of France. The southern counties have warm summers that average just 1 degree below the temperatures in Champagne, providing ideal growing conditions for the grapes necessary to make premium sparkling wines. Like our own vineyard here at Tenterden, many of our growers also have parcels of land with a clay/loam soil which is well-suited to the growing of other grape varieties like Pinot Noir and Bacchus

To produce great wines you need to grow the highest quality fruit. However, to capture the finesse and distinct character of all our grape varieties you also need to have expert winemaking techniques and equipment. Here at Chapel Down we are fortunate to have a dedicated and creative winemaking team lead by Owen Elias. Whilst every vintage will be slightly different to any that have gone before, the winemaker’s expertise is to ensure that the style and quality remain consistent over the years. England produces both unusual and classic grapes with distinct aromas, flavours and characters. The winemaker’s art is to blend them to get the best from the fruit. Every vat is tasted and analysed methodically and blended in such a way to maintain Chapel Down’s unique house style for our non-vintage wines, or to create something truly special for the vintages.

Our aim is to get better every year, and with the very latest equipment, from presses to the disgorging machine, highest quality growers and a great team, we are very proud of the wines we produce here.

Cheers!

Frazer Thompson
Managing director