GOVERNMENT HOSPITALITY 
LANCASTER HOUSE, ST JAMES’S, LONDON SW1A 1BB 
TELEPHONE : 020-7008 8517 
FACSIMILE : 020-7008 8526 
 
Our ref: FOI 0046-10 
 
 
 12th February 2010 
 
[FOI #26950 email] 
 
Dear Mr Manderson, 
Thank you for your request under the Freedom of Information Act, which I received on the 
15th January 2010. I am sorry that there has been a slight delay in replying.  In your letter you 
requested information on: 
-  what the average cost of the purchase of one bottle of wine [was] between June 2008 
and May 2009; 
-  what percentage of bottles of wine [bought] were white and what percentage red; 
-  what percentage of bottles of wine came from North America, Chile and Europe. 
 
I can confirm that Government Hospitality does hold the information you are requesting. 
Your request has been forwarded to me as Head of Government Hospitality, the department 
within the Foreign and Commonwealth Office responsible for the administration of the GH 
wine cellar.   
 
The average cost of a bottle of wine bought during the Financial Year 2008/09 (the latest full 
year for which data is available) was £18.69. The increase in average cost on the 07/08 
figures you hold reflects additional purchases of champagnes and new 2005 red Bordeaux in 
2008/09.  These purchases followed the advice of the Government Hospitality Advisory 
Committee for the Purchase of Wine to Government Hospitality to take advantage of the 
favourable market conditions for these wines.  
 
71% of the wines bought were white wines and 29% of the wines bought were red. 
 
Of those wines purchased, 89% were from Europe (including the UK), and 11% were from 
Chile. No wines from North America were purchased during the period in question. 
 
The information that has been supplied to you continues to be protected by the Copyright, 
Designs and Patents Act 1988. You are free to use it for your own purposes, including any 
non-commercial research you are doing and for the purposes of news reporting. Any other re-

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use, for example commercial publication, would require the permission of the copyright 
holder. Most documents supplied by the FCO will have been produced by government 
officials and will be Crown Copyright. You can find details on the arrangements for re-using 
Crown copyright on the Office of Public Sector Information website at: 
 
 
http://www.opsi.gov.uk/click-use/index.htm 
 
Information you receive which is not subject to Crown Copyright continues to be protected 
by the copyright of the person, or organisation, from which the information originated. You 
must ensure that you gain their permission before reproducing any third party (non-Crown 
Copyright) information. 
 
If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your request and wish to 
make a complaint or request a review of our decision, you should write to me. 
 
If you are not content with the outcome your complaint, you may apply directly to the 
Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the ICO cannot make a decision unless 
you have exhausted the complaints procedure provided by the Foreign and Commonwealth 
Office. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at The Information Commissioner’s 
Office, Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire SK9 5AF. 
 
 
 
Yours sincerely, 
 
 
Robert Alexander 
 
 
Robert M O’D Alexander OBE 
Head of Government Hospitality 
Protocol Directorate 
 
[email address] 
 
 
 

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