Eats

Salut – the beautiful Manchester wine bar with its own self-service wine machine

Cheers to you, Salut.

Daisy Jackson - 6th July 2024

400 wines, huge charcuterie boards, and a self-service wine machine – it’s pretty easy to see why Salut can comfortably declare itself the finest wine shop in all of Manchester.

This brilliant independent business is part shop, part event space, and part bar, and is about to hit its 10th birthday.

True to form at Salut, there’ll be special events to celebrate its milestone anniversary – but at Salut, every day can be a celebration.

In the summer, you can sit outside on the terrace and pavement seats in the sunshine, while in winter the bar turns cosy and glitters with twinkling lights.

Standing on a corner of Cooper Street and Fountain Street, just off St Peter’s Square, the beautiful two-storey wine bar is a firm local favourite.

Inside, customers are greeted with a giant wall of wine, with more than 400 different bottles to choose from, from modern natural wines to luxury classics, as well as beers, spirits and softs.

You can pull up a chair and enjoy a glass of wine from the Salut team’s ever-changing by-the-glass wine menu, but the jewel in its crown really is the self-service wine machine.

These tasting wine dispensers preserve and serve wine, and you can help yourself to a tasting measure, or a whole glass.

Mix-and-match sharing boards at Salut in Manchester

You can head up to the bar and pre-charge a Salut wine card, then simply swipe, pick your own wine, and get to drinking.

The wines stocked in the machines are always changing, with the team regularly introducing vintages and unique wines so that people can taste something different without committing to a whole bottle.

Between the machine and the by-the-glass menu, that’s more than 50 wines you can order by the glass.

It’s heaven for wine enthusiasts, curious drinkers, and those of us who are just a bit indecisive.

Then as for what to eat, Salut puts together huge cheese and charcuterie sharing boards, along with loads of snacks and small plates.

You can mix and match your own board with meat items like peppered pastrami, air-dried beef bresaola, Alpine speck, chorizo, and Serrano ham, plus cheeses like Nicky Nook blue, Alpencheddar, and Dewlay extra mature cheddar

The bar also hosts wine tastings in its private room upstairs

Outside Salut wine bar in Manchester — The bar also hosts wine tastings in its private room upstairs

All that’s on top of a full menu of crisps, plus other snacks like hummus, spicy n’duja sausage, and mushroom pate.

Boards are made with produce from local suppliers, like Companio focaccia and The Crafty Cheese Man cheeses, as well as the finest imported deli meats and cheeses.

Salut is a big fan of a special event, with wine tastings running year-round, like their upcoming Salut Over The Years evening in celebration of the bar’s 10th birthday.

It was all started by co-founders and husband-and-wife team Sara and Jon, who wanted to create a bar they wanted to drink in – somewhere Mancs could have a relaxed glass of wine in the city centre.

They set out to build an independent wine bar and shop with a laid-back European feel, describing Salut as ‘a no-nonsense, Mancunian attitude to drinking wine’.

The pair said: “When we first saw the Enomatic machines we felt that these could help us to create that environment – they are fun to use, you can taste wines you wouldn’t normally try without breaking the bank and you don’t have to trip over your tongue trying to pronounce Gewürtztraminer if you’d rather not, because you can just help yourself to some.

“We really just feel that wine is really nice stuff and something that everyone should be able to enjoy.

“The dictionary definition of salut is ‘used to express friendly feelings towards one’s companions before drinking’ – there’s not much that’s better than that feeling and it’s why we’re called Salut.”

If you’ve not visited before, get this one on your bucket list, and pop into Salut for a glass, a bottle, a board, and a gorgeous evening.

Featured image: The Manc Group