Government Wine Cellar

It was originally stocked on the advice of the Government Hospitality Advisory Committee for the Purchase of Wine, a quango that was abolished in 2010.

[1] Before its abolition, the committee met two or three times a year in the cellar, around a table carved from an elm tree that blew down in St James's Park in around 1830.

The role of the committee was to taste the wines, make recommendations for new purchases to keep the cellar stocked, and to sell a portion on the open market to fund the restocking process.

[5] The cellar includes wines from Château Lafite, Cheval Blanc, Cos d’Estournel, Mouton Rothschild and Le Pin.

English and Welsh wines are estimated to make up 44% of all those served in 2016, including Nyetimber’s demi-sec.