The UK Government spends about £100,000 a year on wine, maintaining a cellar of almost 40,000 bottles.The Bank of England's cellar has about 2,800 bottles, mostly clarets and burgundies, and some champagne and port, chosen by an in-house wine committee.

The Royal College of Physicians has an excellent collection of 2,500 bottles of claret is bought on the advice of a Master of Wine, kept for an average of 15 to 20 years and usually only served at fellowship dinners and other formal occasions held at its headquarters in Regents Park. The docs swear by Château Labégorce Zédé 1985, a relatively rare claret from Margaux.

The Worshipfull Company of Goldsmiths , one of the 12 livery companies of the City of London, which arose from the trades of the capital in medieval times, maintains an impressive cellar with a collection of about 10,000 bottles of reds and white burgundies, champagnes, sauternes and ports, some dating as far back as 1948. It also has a large quantity of Madeira, which was laid down in 1835 to mark the building of Goldsmiths' Hall. Only 18 bottles remain and it's impossible to price them.

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