WE at Taste of Manchester really appreciate the Return Of The Wine Bar. The city centre is now blessed with Salut and Bistrovin, while West Didsbury’s Wine and Wallop is a terrific wine (and beer) destination in the ‘burbs. Not to be left behind, Chorlton can now boast Cellar Key.
It’s the brainchild – and obviously love child – of Andy Leathley (ex-Living Ventures), a man so engaged with the possibilities of the grape it’s beyond infectious. It shows in the exemplary bottle collection he has compiled, at odds with so many wine lists by numbers in bars.
Refosco dal Peduncolo Rosso, for example, is not your obvious red. It’s made in North-East Italy from dark-skinned grapes and is dense, tannic and plummy. An evening’s special from La Roncaia, it climaxed a parade of lovely wines, ranging from an off-dry petrolly (a good thing) Kiwi riesling, Te Kairanga (£5.70 a 175ml glass, £24 a bottle), a deliciously herbaceous organic Fiano in a stubby half litre bottle and finally, completely different white the strapping South African blend of six aromatic grapes, Vuurberg (£32.50)
In gentle contrast to the Refosco, we loved the house Pinot Noir, Nostras Gran Reserva from Chile, all pure strawberry fruit ((£5.30 for 1.75ml, £22 a bottle).
Cellar Key’s setting is cosy, too, a converted Indian restaurant space at a key people watching crossroads in the Chorlton massif. The basement is more of private function/wine tastings space, the ground floor table service bistro with a decorative key motif going on. Prices are affordable, though our advice is take care in enthusiastically sourcing by the glass from the card-worked enomatic machine (the same applies at Salut, which has a row of them) – the tally soon mounts.
Cellar Key only merits a three, for overall performance, because three months in, the food offering is very hit and miss. Pick of what we had were scallops and Spanish black pudding, spinach and a brava sauce (£7.50) and five-spiced duck with bok choy and noodles. Other, deep-fried, dishes were decidedly greasy and the whole menu lacked focus.
I’m sure such matters will be addressed. Take some olives and cheese with your wine (list details here) or attend one of their guest chef’s evenings (Mary-Ellen McTague cooked for them on Valentine’s Night).
A splendid, quirky addition to the Chorlton bar scene nevertheless, where there is literally no escape from the raison (or should that be raisin?) d'être of the Cellar Key. The toilets are papered with cuttings from wine guides.
Cellar Key, Manchester 495 Barlow Moor Road, Chorlton, M21 8AG. 0161 881 1305, http://www.thecellarkey.bar
