Wine bar review: There's something very special in MacCurtain Wine Cellar

Customers at MacCurtain Wine Cellar, MacCurtain Street, Cork

• MacCurtain Wine Cellar 
• 11 MacCurtain Street, Cork, T23 FR66 
• Tel: [phone] 
• www.maccurtainwine.ie
• Opening Hours: Mon/Tues, closed; Wed to Sat, 12pm-9.30pm; Sun, 2pm-9pm

The Judge and I have convened once more for a long overdue ‘clinic’, beginning with ‘une bière de soif’ a thirst quencher to get gastric juices flowing, in the ever splendid Abbot’s Ale House, on Devonshire St, one of Cork’s criminally lesser-hymned pubs — though sometimes you get the feeling they like it so. Either way, it is a great spot for craft beer drinkers and a nice crisp IPA sets us up for an evening of wining and dining and a trudge up the slope to … Oxford St at Christmas?

MacCurtain Wine Cellar, MacCurtain Street

No, not quite, but MacCurtain St on Saturday night, if you haven’t been in that neck of the woods for a while, is now quite the experience, pavements thronged with a stream of pedestrian traffic to rival London’s iconic shopping street — and most are here to put on the nosebag.

Over the past decade, it has become THE food street in Cork city; dizzying variety runs the gamut from fast food through casual and all the way up to fine dining.

And, in the last year, you can add to that, two new wine bars creating quite a stir about town. Nell’s is one and the other is MacCurtain Wine Cellar.

This is my second visit but I’m still swooning at the gorgeous makeover of one of the street’s loveliest old Victorian shopfronts, and its equally alluring interior, fast becoming the stuff of local Instagram legend.

The proprietors are Chicago-born Sean Gargano, a sommelier in Dublin for some years, creating lists in particular for The Legal Eagle and The Winding Stair, and his partner, Trudy Aherne, who ran front of house in one of this writer’s favourite Irish restaurants, Etto, in Dublin, where, apart from always delicious food, you could get nicely buzzed alone on the intoxicating atmosphere.

8pm on a Saturday night and similar levels of exuberance prevail at MCW, punters on high stools at tables in the centre of the bijou little space, or at ledges running along the windows and bar. Seatless quaffers, more than happy to stand and slug, fill in gaps on the floor.

Browsing the shelf at MacCurtain Wine Cellar, MacCurtain Street, Cork

MCW is a cave à manger style establishment, following the Parisian model, specialising in wine, either for off-licence sale or a selection by the glass for drinking on premises with a range of accompanying nibbles if desired.

There are no reservations so we are content to stand and wait, supposedly perusing the menu but our eyes skip and stray like greedy grazing mountain goats, up, down, and around the floor-to-ceiling wall filled with a premium collection of wines, consummately curated by Gargano, ranging far and wide in both breadth and originality of choice.

These can also be drunk in-house (€15 corkage) and I want far too many all at once but we settle on a first and order a clutch of edible offerings from a tidy little menu from house chef Bryan Rudd.

A perky blushing pink pet nat passes time very pleasantly until a seat becomes available, Austrian Meinklang Prosa, with giddy fizzing floral aromas and gentle notes of redcurrant, raspberry, and citrus.

First, snacks; plump, meaty, verdant green nocarella olives, even nicer when we douse them in superb in-house olive oil, and roasted salted almonds, so good, for a moment I consider taking a diversion down to ‘sherry town’.

But we are here for wine: Milan Nestarec, a Moravian winemaker from the Czech Republic has been a poster boy over the last decade for some of the more outré and funky extremes of natural winemaking but in recent times has taken a body swerve back to a slightly more conventional path, now making what he calls ‘normal’ wines. Forks and Knives white (2020) is crisp, citric, creamy with refreshing melon and peach notes, a cracking match for the almonds and olives.

I adore premium tinned fish and gorgeous anchovies have a teasing, tender, chewy texture, packing a potent, punchy sweet umami that only requires a crust of sourdough baguette to complete a fine mouthful. Again, the Nestarec does the trick, freshening the palate between mouthfuls.

Testalonga Dolceacqua wine at MacCurtain Wine Cellar

I’m trying to introduce the Judge to lower intervention, even natural wines, and Claus Preisinger’s Austrian Puszta Libre, served slightly chilled, is as ever, an easy drinking quaffer, bright and crunchy, with notes of violet and bramble.

More substantial fare is ever mindful of its role, that the wines are the real star of the show at MCW and anything edible is a supporting player. That doesn’t stop it being very damn tasty.

Crisped slices of baguette are smeared with spicy, peppery nduja, sporting plump, succulent, sugary, gently acidic semi-sundried tomato, topping with shavings of divine Cáis na Tíre cheese. It is a delightful snack, nicely balanced combinations of sweet, savoury, and acid, marrying well with textures. More crostini, fine whipped ricotta, and jammy beetroot, perfect with the Puszta Libre.

We move on to Testalonga Dolceacqua, made by Nino Perrino, in Liguria, Italy, from rossese vines, a vigorous, robust red with a crunchy, snapping, peppery, herbaceous bite, that has us revisiting anchovies and diving into burrata, bresaola and superb West Kerry saucisson with good bread. We finish with another favourite, rich, creamy Delice de Bourgogne cheese with a cherry compote.

MWC may have been rocking when we turn up but by 8.30pm it empties out as it currently very much serves as a ‘pre-event’ venue (pub, dinner, theatre, etc) for a glass or two and a nibble before moving on elsewhere. After that, the second wave is less frenetic until they shut up shop entirely at 9.30pm — which is probably just as well because if we had our way we’d still be stuck on a stool swilling to our hearts’ content.

MCW is a fabulous new vinified addition to Cork’s hospitality portfolio, a real keeper and we have already discussed, only half joking, the possibility of arriving next time much closer to their midday opening!

The Verdict:

• Food: 8.5 (do remember, it is snacks, not full meals) 
• Service: 8 
• Value: 8.5 
• Atmosphere: 9 
• Tab: €170 (including tip)