An Evening with Frazer Thompson, CEO of Chapel Down Group

Originally from Newcastle, after graduating in 1981 it seemed entirely appropriate that Frazer was drawn to beer. By the age of 29, he was made a director of Whitbread plc having led the team behind the success of Boddingtons in the early 90s with its famous advertising and draughtflow widget.

He was poached by Heineken NV in 1995 to become Global Brand Director for the Heineken trademark, the first non-Dutchman to take the role. He travelled the World marketing beer.

He accepted the challenge of Managing Director of Chapel Down in November 2001. Since then he has been one of the driving forces that has raised the profile of English wine to such an extent that demand now vastly exceeds supply (a complete reversal of fortune). He has made the largest English wine company profitable, developed a well-respected and valuable premium brand and has successfully secured five rounds of fund-raising and created a Board and team second to none.  In September 2014 he raised a further £3.9m in what was the world’s biggest equity crowd funding, in a world record time and a first for a listed company. With an additional 1,500 investors, he now has over 2,300 “pilgrims” who can rant about the virtues of English wine at dinner parties whilst enjoying shareholder discounts.

Chapel Down wines have now won many International awards, including an extraordinary three Gold Medals (of 229 awarded in the world) at the Decanter World Wine Awards 2013 including Regional Trophy for Best English Sparkling Wine and one for a still Chardonnay. Yes. A Chardonnay from England! In 2011 he launched a beer using winemaking techniques – Curious Brew, which promptly won a Gold Medal at the International Brewing Awards and Trophy for Best lager beer under 5% abv in 2012. The best beer in the World, in 12 months.

Please join us for an exciting evening where we will hear some great insights from Frazer!

Sign Up Now