Government plans to sell off wine

Some of the UK government’s finest wines, including first growth Bordeaux, vintage Champagne and white Burgundy, could be sold off to reduce the number of bottles kept for official dinners and receptions.

A review by the Foreign Office is predicted to recommend a reduction in the size of the cellar. At a time of public spending cuts, the controversy surrounding the luxurious cellar is persuading officials of the need to downsize.

With an estimated 40,000 bottles, the cellar’s total worth is £2 million, with a bottle at top of its range estimated to reach £3,000.

Among the wines stored under Lancaster House in St James’s is a 1961 Château Margaux – a favourite of Baroness Thatcher – worth just over £1,000 and a bottle of 1964 Krug Champagne, which could cost £1,800.

A 1961 Château Latour is among the most valuable with an estimated market price of £3,000 a bottle, according to wine merchants.

Advice is also given on how the wines are to be used. Brandy is to be used “sparingly”, while the 1961 Corton grand cru is for “heads of state”.

A Foreign Office source told the Evening Standard newspaper: "The question that is being asked very seriously is how many of the finest wines are actually needed for a limited number of very high level events in the years to come."

The Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wines is now expected to remain despite last year’s reports that it would be abolished in the “bonfire of the quangos”.

Laura Pullman, 20.01.2011