Chapel Down Group plc (CDGP · LSE)
England's Answer to Champagne
England's biggest winemaker, growing grapes across more than 1,000 acres of Kent and selling bottle-fermented sparkling wine that competes head-on with Champagne.
Bull case for Chapel Down Group plc
Biggest share of English sparkling wine
It leads the category in UK shops and has been growing faster than the category itself.
Owns the vines, winery and visitor site
Controlling land, winemaking and tourism makes the whole operation very hard to copy quickly.
Vines already planted for future growth
The land is in the ground, so volumes can rise without heavy new spending on vineyards.
Bear case for Chapel Down Group plc
Weather decides the size of each harvest
One frost or wet summer can shrink the crop and the wine available years later.
Cash tied up in wine that ages for years
Bottles mature for over three years before sale, so borrowings fund stock long in advance.
Supermarkets hold most of the buying power
A few large retailers dominate sales, so losing shelf space would hurt badly.