By Neil Sowerby
WINE bars making a comeback who would have thought it? Taste of Manchester has great hopes for Wine and Wallop in Lapwing Lane, being launched soon by the folk from West Didsburys Folk Bar. Nearer home Spirited Wines on Deansgate are planning to move three doors further up to create a new shop with an upstairs wine bar.
In the meantime, theres Salut in the old Oddbins shop on Fountain Street (opposite Beef and Pudding. Despite a few teething troubles owners Jon and Sara Saunby have quickly established it as a place to buy and sup wines from quality independent producers. I particularly like the upstairs wine bar and the Enomatic serving system that allows them to sell 42 wines by the glass.
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.
Their objective? To lure punters into widening their wine horizons. One way to do that is take a Wines and Spirits Education Trust tasting course. The Saunbys and most of their team studied under leading Manchester wine educator Stephen Rosser (pictured above). Payback time is allowing Rosser to run his new wine school there on Monday and Tuesday evenings.
For full details of Stephen Rossers courses, which lead to WSET qualifications (or you can just do them for the hell of it), ring Rosser on 0795 2066381 or email: [email protected]. Courses start at £270. Stephen has worked for, amongst others, Harvey Nichols, Manchester Wine School, and the Guild of Sommeliers. He has also led a number of wine tours to the Douro Valley, the home of Port.
Salut. salut.co.uk Opening Hours: Mon-Tue 10.00-18.30 (wine school from 19.00);
Wed-Sat 10.00-23.00; Sun 10.00-18.00.
ONE event guaranteed to simulate your interest in the wide and wonderful world of wine is to go to a major wine tasting. We recommend the Big Indie Wine Fest, which takes over New Century House on Friday and Saturday, September 26 and 27. Therell be hundreds of wines to sample. Look out for Reserve Wines (run by the BBC Food and Drink's wine expert, Kate Goodman), Corks Out, family-produced French wines from Tour de Belfort, Pacta Connect's impressive Adriatic collection, and Bolton's award-winning boutique, T Wright Wine.
Choose between three sessions at this flagship wine event of the Manchester Food and Drink Festival. Fri 26 Sep: 6pm-9pm; Sat 27 Sep: 2pm-5pm and 6pm-9pm. Tickets £12 from www.ticketline.co.uk. Additional wine masterclass tickets with TV experts and sommeliers will go on sale soon.