In a victory to senior ministers and diplomats who occasionally employ claret for clarity of thought, Her Majesty’s Government has stayed the execution of the wine cellar, housed in the bowels of Lancaster House in St. James’s, central London.Jim Ross
Oscar Wilde once said "The English have a miraculous power of turning wine into water." Today, the English performed a minor miracle by sparing the official wine cellar from becoming an accounting adjustment on the national balance sheet.
In a victory to senior ministers and diplomats who occasionally employ claret for clarity of thought, Her Majesty's Government has stayed the execution of the wine cellar, housed in the bowels of Lancaster House in St. James's, central London. Last year, the future of the 80-year-old cellar, whose existence was kept secret for decades, was uncertain, thanks to across-the-board spending cutbacks implemented by the new Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition government. The cellar, run by the Foreign office, was put under review to ensure it was "appropriate to the contemporary environment."
Without slurring his words, Henry Bellingham, parliamentary under-secretary of state for foreign affairs, said "I seriously considered abolishing the cellar, but all the evidence shows that we will save the taxpayer money by keeping the cellar and reforming it so that wine purchases are self-funded through sales."
In other words, the expensive, vintage bottles will be auctioned off to supply a steady stream of new plonk. In a BBC interview, Mr. Bellingham said he expected the auctions to raise about £50,000 a year.
The cellar indeed contains some gems, according to reports. The dusty shelves cradle various vintages of Chateau Latour, Chateau Lafite, Chateau Mouton Rothschild and Chateau Margaux. "If I drop this, I would never forgive myself," Mr. Bellingham told London's Evening Standard newspaper while clutching Chateau Latour 1961, valued at up to £10,000. The bottle, one of almost 40,000 in the cellar, was reportedly bought for a mere 30 pence.
The Standard said the cellar once contained fine wines that were confiscated from the German embassy in 1939, at the onset of the Second World Ward. The existing collection includes a crate of Chateau Pape Clement given to Tony Blair for his 50th birthday by Jacques Chirac, the former French president. Another wine, a Chateau Margaux premier cru, was a favourite of Margaret Thatcher, who described it as "silky."
Wines are hauled out of the cellar for state events, ranging from minor diplomatic visits to lavish dinners for prime ministers and presidents. The higher profile the guest, the more expensive the wine. British MPs must be jealous. The House of Commons wine cellar was sold off in the 1960s.
Eric Reguly