Chapel Down to produce two million bottles from 2022

By James Lawrence

Published: 17 October, 2022

The UK's largest winery has published an update on vintage 2022 in southern England, celebrating “both the exceptional grape quality and yield”.

According to Chapel Down, the harvest delivered a record tonnage of its key sparkling wine varieties – Chardonnay, Pinot Noir and Pinot Meunier – as part of a total harvest of over 2,000 tonnes.

“This year’s harvest is expected to enable the production of approximately two million bottles of sparkling and still wines,” said a representative from Chapel Down.

The harvest began at the end of August: a very warm summer delivered berries packed full of sugar and ripe acidity. Meanwhile, Chapel Down continues to expand its capacity, to capitalise on the growing demand for English sparkling wine. The firm has planted an additional 38 acres of vines this year and expects to plant a further 118 acres in due course.

Andrew Carter, chief executive at Chapel Down Group, commented: “This exceptional harvest has been achieved thanks to the skill and dedication of our talented team. English wine is enjoying rapid growth as producers like Chapel Down benefit from optimal conditions and sustained investment. Our strong performance in the first half of the year and the bumper harvest we have announced today leaves Chapel Down well on track to meet our target to double the size of the business by 2026.”

Josh Donaghay-Spire, chief winemaker at Chapel Down, added: “Early indications were that this harvest would be a strong one and it has not disappointed either on yield or quality. We expect the earlier harvest to result in a riper style of wine akin to that found in the successful 2018 or 2020 vintages, and we are excited to learn what we can achieve with this year’s crop.

“Over the last fifty years we have found our feet as a wine region… there is now huge potential to build upon the great assets of our climate and exceptional geology and discover how truly great English Wine can be. We are optimistic that this harvest could be the best yet.”

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