Snub to English wine as £700,000 Government wine cellar stocks just 800 bottles - Burstow

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sun 7th Aug 2005

The Government is failing to showcase British wine-makers. According to figures obtained by Liberal Democrat MP, Paul Burstow the Government's 39,000 bottle wine cellar contains fewer than 800 bottles of English and Welsh wines.

Every year the Government spends up to £100,000 stocking its wine cellar. The average cost of a bottle of wine served by Government hospitality is £20.

In response to Paul Burstow's Parliamentary question the Foreign Secretary Jack Straw, who is in charge of the cellar, revealed running costs of between £75,000 and £97,000.

The cellar, valued last year at £700,000, holds up to 39,000 bottles of wine at any one time but English and Welsh wines make up little over 780 bottles of the total stock.

Paul Burstow MP commented:

"The Government is letting British wine-makers down. To stock so few native wines is a snub. Surely more opportunity should be made to showcase the best of British wine.

"It seems bizarre that the Government spends an average of £20 a bottle when entertaining. Taxpayers may wonder why almost £100,000 each year is spent stocking the wine cellar.

"I'm sure taxpayers would wonder whether this represents good value for money."