Salut Wine Shop Saluted

LABOUR of love is a phrase that gets overused; wine bar’s a phrase that is decidedly unhip. Unfairly so. Newly-opened Salut is the epitome of both - a bold new venture from a group of oenophiles (wine lovers).

Salut’s wine bar spreads to an upstairs wine bar eyrie that could tempt many a wine scribe into a lost afternoon. 

This combined shop/bar has been four years in gestation since owners Jon and Sara Saunby got the wine bug. Phylloxera? Wine lover's joke, but their enthusiasm really is infectious. 

It extends to the rest of the team at Salut, situated in the old Oddbins corner site on Cooper Street and across the road from fellow pioneers of the ‘Cooper Street Quarter’, Beef and Pudding. 

Salut (right)

Most of the Salut folk share the Saunbys’ wellspring, they all took courses from leading Manchester wine educator Stephen Rosser. Payback time is lending Rosser a chunk of the premises Monday and Tuesday evenings for his new wine school. Expect to see occasional masterclasses from winemakers, too.

Rosser has advised the Saunbys. Mark Dent, once of Hanging Ditch, also. Jon, Sara, Joe, Nick and Sam tasted their way gallantly through hundreds of wines from large suppliers and, importantly, small independents – their objective to lure punters into widening their wine horizons. 

The result is there for all to see on a soaring shelf wall with 300 wines and a changing roster of 42 available by the glass from an Enomatic machine. Prices are good, the selection immaculate based on a swift tasting prior to opening.

Salut entrance

George Bergier, Stephen Rosser, Jon Saunby

The Enomatic dispenses wine by the glass at the swipe of a prepaid card loaded with credit (min. value £10). It maintains the freshness of opened bottles over an extended period. The machines offer a range of glass sizes: 50ml, 125ml or 175ml. You can keep the card for a return visit or Salut will refund any unused credit. 

A similar concept worked really well up at Bakerie on Northern Quarter's Lever Street when the knowledgeable Dale Meakin was able to showcase some fascinating leftfield wines you might not risk splashing out for. Sadly, Pie and Ale dominates up there these days. 

Similar to the Bakerie wine shop, Salut’s wine bar spreads to an upstairs wine bar eyrie that could tempt many a wine scribe into a lost afternoon. With some nibbles, of course. Food comes from North Star Deli (Chorlton, Piccadilly): hummus, baba ganoush, olives and pita bread, cheese selections, smoked salmon, cured meats and roast beef. That kind of wine-friendly stuff with bagels and croissants for the weekends.

Palate cleansing beers are on offer from Radcliffe’s Brightside and self-styled gypsy brewers Shin Diggers (their Pacific Pale Ale is especially refreshing).

Salut

My wine lust was whetted by an Umbrele Chardonnay, from the unlikely source of Romania. Tropical fruit, some new oak vanilla and fresh acidity. More food-friendly was a Jean Lucv Colombo et Fille, a fresh, minerally white Cotes du Rhone. A Dirk Niepoort entry-level red from Portugal was similarly attractive with lots of dark Douro fruit.

Notice I’m not giving definitive prices here. The shelves still awaited the stickers. The plan was to charge £7 corkage to drink any bottle in-store (the surcharged waived for any wine over £50), but this policy may well have changed. Salut possesses that slight chaos that befits a labour of love at an embryo stage. Sara has given up her job as a stewardess, but Jon is keeping the day job as a BA pilot. As you read this, he may be winging his way to Toronto. 

At this soft launch the Chop Houses’ revered sommelier George Bergier, a mentor to Salut’s Nick, was sharing a glass or two with me. His recommendation from the shelves was the German Spatburgunders (pinot noir) from Thörle in the Rheinhessen. A good enough excuse for popping back soon.

Nick of Salut

Follow Neil Sowerby @AntonEgoManc