UK Government sells vintage French wine to pay drinks bill

The British Government is selling vintage French wine at around £5,000 a bottle (€5,783) in a bid to make its wine cellar self-funding as part of a national austerity drive and clampdown on extravagant expenditure.

The government wine cellar, located in the basement of Lancaster House near Buckingham Palace, is used to provide wine for foreign VIP guests ranging from royalty to heads of state and Prime Ministers at 200 or more events a year.

The cellar contains 38,090 bottles of wine and spirits, with an estimated market value of £2.95 million (€3.4 million), according to an annual report on the cellar released last month.

But figures show that a government review from 2010, recommending the cellar become self-funding rather than a drain on taxpayers, had not worked out with sales of £44,000 (€51,000) last year but purchases of about £49,000.

Auction house Christie’s said the British Government was selling six lots of wine, a total of 54 bottles, on March 21, with the sale expected to raise up to £65,000 pounds (€75,000).