UK Government Cellar List

[Andy Velebil]

I think JDAW has been trying to get this list. Doesn't have number of bottles but does say what they have. Scroll down toward bottom for the Ports. Some of those they need to drink sooner rather than later. And they got 1931 Noval

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... sv/preview


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[Andy Velebil]

And this shows what they consumed. A lot of 1977 and 1983 Warre's VP.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/s ... sv/preview

[Alex Bridgeman]

Well that's entertained me over my lunch break! These are the wine cellars of the government for use in delivering business hospitality for all government ministers and departments.

There are also transparency uploads for 2014-15 and 2013-14 available.

Now for a bit of work to see if I can back-calculate what they might have started off with...

[Alex Bridgeman]

Someone in government's been reading the pointless statistics thread. Just read on the 2014-15 link above:

• The Government Hospitality wine cellar contains 34,052 bottles of wines and spirits
• Total cost value of stock £818,977. (cf. 13/14 £824,406)
• Estimated market value of stock £3.108m (cf. £3.101m 13/14 )
• Consumption rose by just under 15%.
• Bottles used : 5,516 (cf. 4,800 in 13/14)
• Bottles of English and Welsh wine used : 2,414 (including reception wines) = 44 % of total
• Cost of used stock : £69,433

[DRT]

Interestingly, they store lots of Burgandy, but drink lots of Burgundy

[Alex Bridgeman]

Interestingly, they store lots of Burgandy, but drink lots of Burgundy

Pedunt.

[Andy Velebil]

Interestingly, they store lots of Burgandy, but drink lots of Burgundy

Pedunt.

I saw that too. Figured I'd let our resident grammar-slammer deal with it. I expect a properly worded email to be sent off.

They do drink a lot of inexpensive receptions wines. I wonder how many old bottles of Port they have.

[uncle tom]

Curious that they have no port between 1948 and 1977 and nothing since 2000

I would happily swap some bottles of Dow '77 (Graded A1) for some of their Graham '35 (merely graded A)

Is this cellar run by someone who knows something about wine? - or some unknown buggins from the department for straightening paperclips..

[Andy Velebil]

Anyone know what their grading scale means? What's "U"?


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[DRT]

Is this cellar run by someone who knows something about wine? - or some unknown buggins from the department for straightening paperclips..

Having been a Civil Servant for two decades (two decades ago) I suspect their wine supplier (BBR?) provides expert advice at huge cost to the tax payer and then some jobsworth with a spreadsheet and a qualification in buying wine from Aldi uses his expertise to refine that advice and make bad decisions.

When the Beast of Bolsover finally retires I might put myself forward as MP for my constituency simply to get my hands on those pre-50s bottles

[Alex Bridgeman]

Is this cellar run by someone who knows something about wine? - or some unknown buggins from the department for straightening paperclips..

Having been a Civil Servant for two decades (two decades ago) I suspect their wine supplier (BBR?) provides expert advice at huge cost to the tax payer and then some jobsworth with a spreadsheet and a qualification in buying wine from Aldi uses his expertise to refine that advice and make bad decisions.

When the Beast of Bolsover finally retires I might put myself forward as MP for my constituency simply to get my hands on those pre-50s bottles

According to the papers filed by the Home Office, the cellar is overseen by a committee of three masters of wine under the chairmanship of Sir David Wright, a former ambassador. None are paid for their work on the committee. The objective of the cellar is to supply wines to government functions and to sell sufficient stock onto the open market (through Christie's) to cover the costs of purchases made during the year. For example, in 2015-16 the cellar sales included 36 bottles of Graham 1983 and 24 bottles of Warre 1985. From what they publish, it seems this objective has been met in each of the last 4 years for which papers have been made public. In 2015-16 the committee spent £40,177 on new stock and raised £40,390 from sales of existing holdings.

[uncle tom]

I think they would get much better prices at Christies if they allowed the catalogue to say where the bottles had come from..

[Alex Bridgeman]

I think they would get much better prices at Christies if they allowed the catalogue to say where the bottles had come from..

I completely agree.

[Axel P]

Well, someone should get in touch with the folks and get us a visit.. Then we can supply some help with whatever advice they need.

[Alex Bridgeman]

The 2017/18 statement and documents were released in December last year, but I have only just found them. They make for interesting reading. A couple of key snippets that I've picked up are:

- average value of the bottles in the cellar is about £100 per bottle; average cost is £13
- no Port younger than 2000 is in the government cellar

And their classification of Port, which is A1, A or B is interesting
GRADE A1

• Noval 1931
• Graham 1945
• Noval 1945
• Warre 1945
• Fonseca 1948
• Taylor 1955
• Fonseca 1977
• Fonseca 1985

GRADE A

• Graham 1935
• Taylor 1977
• Warre 1977
• Cavadinha 1982
• Graham 1983
• Taylor 1983
• Taylor 1985
• Warre 1985
• Fonseca 2000

GRADE B

• Quarles Harris 1977
• Dow 1983
• Fonseca 1983
• Warre 1983
• Churchill 1985
• Croft 1985
• Graham 1985
• Fonseca 1994
• Graham 1994
• Quarles Harris 1994
• Taylor 1994
• Warre 1994
• Vesuvio 1996
• Croft 2000
• Dow 2000
• Taylor 2000

My gradings would have been rather different!

[nac]

Disclaimer - I am not, and have never been, a civil servant...

...however, some years ago I was responsible for looking after the UK estate of the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. This included Lancaster House (last house on the Mall before you get to Buck Palace).

The basement of LH houses the HMG Wine Cellar, which is managed on a day-to-day basis by the grandly titled "Head of Government Hospitality" (who is a career civil servant).

I managed to get a tour of the cellar, and amongst the various Bordeaux delights (including a bin full of Latour and a case of Le Pin - 1990 I think), there were significant reserves of VP.

Tucked away in one corner of the cellar, on an small bookcase, were the older wines, including two or three unlabelled bottles tagged Noval 1931. So, unfortunately not vast quantities that are likely to appear at future auctions.

[Alex Bridgeman]

Distracted from the work I should have been doing, I took a look at the latest report from the Government Wine Cellar .

What made me smile is that the UK government seem to have the same problem as I do - as we all do. No matter how many bottles of Port I drink, I end up with more at the end of the year than I started with at the beginning of the year. I have no idea how this happens, but it does.

The bi-annual statement (covering 1 April 2018 to 31 March 2020) says that:
In 2018-19 Government Hospitality consumed 61 bottles of Port and purchased 320.
In 2019-20 Government Hospitality consumed 57 bottles of Port and purchased 204.

Interestingly, the average cost of the 32,921 bottles in stock is £24.63 per bottle. They use (and purchase) about 3,700 bottles per year and raise the funds for purchases by selling some of the top end wines. In 2018-19, GH sold 54 bottles to raise over £44k.

Sadly, there is no information given on the wines in the cellar.

[MigSU]

I had no idea this existed. It's brilliant. And it's good to know we all have the same problem - even governments.

[JacobH]

Back in 2009, I put an FOI list in for the stock list of mature vintage port (in an effort to get around their usual protestations that releasing the list would distort the market). There’s a thread which includes the what they gave me. There were some very entertaining scores and tasting notes about the Ports.

Something that is interesting looking at those is that I get the impression they were planning on drinking the lot whereas it seems from this report that the model has changed to trying to get the cellar to be self-funding by flogging some of the rare stuff off to pay for some new acquisitions. Probably quite sensible.

Not Port-related but i think it’s interesting that the “Reception Wines” are a Chapel Down Baccus (which seems obvious enough) and also a Valpolicella by Allegrini (which seems to sell for about £11). I would have thought they would have been ultra-conservative and gone for cheap claret or something.

[Doggett]

I am a big fan of English wines but I think it is a worry if we try and impress others as to the quality of our home wines with Chapel Down Bacchus.

[nac]

Came across the updated report for the period 2022 to 2024.

Includes detail of bottles consumed. For Port...

April 2022 to March 2023
Taylor 1977 5
Fonseca 1983 2
Graham 1983 14
Taylor 1983 16
Churchill 1985 7
Graham 1985 3
Fonseca 1985 2

April 2023 to March 2024
Quinta do Noval 1931 3
Fonseca 1977 1
Dow 1983 4
Taylor 1983 1
Warre 1983 2
Churchill 1985 2
Croft 1985 3
Fonseca 1985 16
Graham 1985 4
Taylor 1985 3

Interesting that they've drunk some of the N31.

[nac]

The 2020-2022 report is here.

Under "Consumption 2021-2022" found this:

PORT
Quinta do Noval 1931 (sold) 5
Taylor 1977 1
Dows 1983 2
Graham 1983 3
Taylor 1983 5
Churchill 1985 6
Cockburn 1985 4
Fonseca 1985 1
Taylor 1985 4

Wonder where the N31s went?

[idj123]

And they clearly like F85!

[nac]

As mentioned above, the HMG Cellar is stored in Lancaster House, which has previously been available to visit as part of this.

Unfortunately it’s not included this year, but the Old Admiralty Building is, which is definitely worth a visit. There’s also a ballot to visit 10 Downing Street.