(News) - PRESIDENT Francois Hollande has been accused of selling off France's national heritage with an auction of hundreds of bottles of fine wine from the cellars of his Elysee Palace.

A total of 1200 bottles, including some of the world's most prestigious labels, were due to go under the hammer from today onwards in a sale that has become symbolic of the cash-strapped government's austerity drive.

Officially, the purpose of the auction is to liberate funds to rejuvenate the presidential collection but officials have also stressed that the proceeds will be invested in more modest replacements and that any surplus will be ploughed back into government coffers.

The conspicuous cost-cutting is in keeping with the tone of Mr Hollande's presidency, which has been clouded by a gloomy economic backdrop.

But it has not gone down well with Michel-Jack Chasseuil, one of France's most prominent wine collectors.

Mr Chasseuil has written to Mr Hollande to express his regret over the decision to allow bottles "that are part of the heritage of our country to be sold off to billionaires from all over the world".

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