France’s Elysée Palace is to open the doors to its vast wine cellar to the public for the first time this weekend as part of a bid by President Emmanuel Macron to promote national heritage.

Some 350 members of the public who booked first via the internet will be taken around the cavernous cellar housing 14,000 bottles, from all the wine growing regions of France, that are served to foreign dignitaries and the presidential couple alike.

“This is the first time we’ve opened the cellar to the public,” Virginie Routis, the Elysée’s sommelier for the past 11 years, told Europe 1 radio.

The three-metre high vaulted cellar is two floors below ground level and keeps a plethora of fine wines and spirits, from cognac to top champagnes, at an ideal temperature of 13 degrees Celsius.

“The wine is chosen according to the menu. I make a selection…Madame and Monsieur Macron also get to approve the choice. We really have to represent French gastronomy so you have to choose wines that speak to a given foreign delegation,” she said.