The Grocer – 10 August 2019

26 | The Grocer | 10 August 2019 Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk Get the full story at thegrocer.co.uk 10 August 2019 | The Grocer | PB

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Frazer Thompson

CEO, Chapel Down

Chapel Down’s CEO sits at the top of this list
not just by virtue of running a big and fast-
growing business – total sales at the listed
winemaker were up 10% to £13m in 2018 –
but for being at the vanguard of taking the
category mainstream.
The level of investment Chapel Down has
ploughed into its business over the recent
past is a statement of intent. In the past year
alone it has added an additional 102 acres of
vineyard, secured a further 388 acres of land
on the North Downs (which it audaciously
outbid a major French wine house for). It’s
also the official supplier of sparkling wine to
10 Downing Street.
Indeed, calling Chapel Down an English
wine brand isn’t even completely accurate
anymore – its Curious Brewery craft beer
spin-off has proved a major success, pull-
ing in £4m in revenue alone last year. That
success looks set to continue with the open-
ing of a massive new brewery in Ashford this
past spring.
And Chapel Down has even gained a foot-
ing in spirits: in 2017 it launched a posh range
of gin and vodkas made with discarded grape
skins. The gin is now in Tesco. And it’s opened
an “experiential bar and restaurant”, the
Chapel Down Gin Works, on a prime piece
of hospitality real estate in London’s King’s
Cross. All of which makes Chapel Down
not just a great English wine brand, but
a great booze brand in its own right.
If you want to grow at the rate
Thompson wants Chapel Down to,
you need serious cash. His ability
to secure funding is prodigious.
As well as pulling in a head-
line-grabbing investment from
Saracens Rugby owner Nigel Wray,
significant shareholders include
Nex Group CEO and famed inves-
tor Michael Spencer, former Scottish
& Newcastle and C&C Magners CEO
John Dunsmore, and funds from Henderson
Global and Lombard Odier. Oh, and notori-
ous global investment firm BlackRock. To
name but a few.
Now, Thompson says: “The team and the
access to city money is bottomless. And I think
we’ve got a business case that is proven.”
Yet Thompson is not a money man. He is
actually a beer industry stalwart, having cut
his teeth at Whitbread and Heineken – which,
in an industry largely dominated by dynas-
ties, makes him somewhat of an outlier. This

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power list english wine

can’t make world class wine and not tell any-

one about it. Winning a trophy or an award

doesn’t let you depose Louis Roederer.”

What’s next? Thompson says he’s not wor-

ried about Brexit. Indeed, he suggests the

brand could benefit from some “economic

patriotism” as Britain looks to establish its

new position in the world, whatever happens

on 31 October.

“We need to show people what good the

industry does, how it’s transforming land-

scape, it’s improving pride, and it’s generat-

ing a huge amount of income and goodwill in

the south of England.”

“Winning a

trophy or an

award does not

let you depose

Louis Roederer”

background

has given him

an understanding

of marketing and brand-

building. Thus Chapel Down has cemented

its standing with posh sponsorships of the

likes of the London Symphony Orchestra, the

handicap stakes at Ascot, and more recently,

the Oxford & Cambridge Boat Race.

“These things are vital – we are the only

ones spending millions on marketing,”

he says. “In the same way that a bottle of

Bollinger is not just a bottle of champagne, I

want the same to be true of Chapel Down. You