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UK government spends over £97,000 restocking its wine cellar

05 November 2024 By Arabella Mileham

The UK government spent £97,189 restocking its wine cellars in the last two years, according to government hospitality figures published last week.

There are currently 31,090 bottles in stock, with an estimated market value of £3.803million, the figures showed, a slight decline on the £3.941 million estimated in 2022-23.

The figures showed that the government cellar was topped up with £49,862 worth of wines during 2023-24, including 888 bottles of white Burgundy, following £47,327 the previous year. Over the two-year period, 1,920 bottles of English sparkling wine were bought, 1,260 bottles of white reception wine and 480 bottles of red reception wine, as well as 60 bottles of gin. The average cost per bottle of wine purchased rose from £17.28 in 2022-23 to £24.66 in 2023-24.

Meanwhile, the hospitality wine cellar report also showed that the number of bottles drunk in 2023 to 2024 rose by 4% to 2,813 bottles compared to 2,713 bottles of wines and spirits used in 2022 to 2023, and 1,303 in 2021-22.

The cellar, which was set up in 1922 and is located in the basement of Lancaster House in Whitehall, is used to provide guests of the government (both domestic and international) with wines “of appropriate quality at reasonable cost”. A committee for the cellar, which comprises four MWs, also advises on wines – both those to be used at large-scale receptions, as well as fine wines that can be bought young and matured in the cellar.

Over the two-year period, 5,526 bottles of wine were drunk (100 less in 2023-2024 than in the previous year), of which around 65% (3,565) were British. Fine wines accounted for around 56% of the total, with the number of fine wines drunk numbering 3,119 over the two-year period, with 2,334 bottles of ‘reception wine’ (which is bought in bulk) being served at government receptions.

Total receipts from wine sales came to £82,015 in 2023-24, nearly double that sold in 2022-23 (£45,759) bringing in total revenue of £49,890, compared to £5,500 in 2022-23.

The most consumed bottles included Ridgeview Cavendish NV, which saw 306 drunk in the year, followed by the Nyetimber Blanc de Blancs 2014 (91), and Ridgeview Blanc de Noirs 2014 (79). Balfour Blanc de Blanc Hush Heath 2018 (132), Chapel Down Coronation Edition 2016 (144)

Bordeaux was the most consumed drinks, with 307 bottles of red Bordeaux consumed over the two-year period, followed by 215 bottles of red Burgundy, and 211 of white Burgundy. Individually, the top bottles in 2022-3 included: Pouilly-Fuisse les Vieilles Vignes 2007, which clocked up the most bottles in 2022-23 (53), ahead of Bordeaux’s Chateau Rauzan-Segla 1994 (50).

The government published its much-delayed figures covering the pandemic and lockdown periods in January this year, nearly seven months after the report was scheduled to be published. The figures showed that £27,000 has been spent on bottles during the 2020-2022 period and more than 1,400 bottles of wine and spirits were consumed – around 130 bottles drunk between the key March 2020 and March 2021.

The latest figures show a return to ‘normal’ correlating to the 2018 to 2020 period when more than 7,300 bottles were consumed, including 83 bottles of Champagne, 47 bottles of gin and just 16 bottles of whisky. The UK government splashed out £73,000 on wine in 2019-20.

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