cellar door

plural cellar doors · alternative cellar-door

1. A door leading to a cellar.

   The cellar-door flew open with a booming sound, and then he heard the noise much louder, on the floors below; then coming up the stairs; then coming straight towards the door.

   1843 December 19, Charles Dickens, “Stave I. Marley’s Ghost.”, in A Christmas Carol. […], London: Chapman & Hall, […], →OCLC, pages 24–25

2. broadlymetonymicallyThe part of a winery from which wine may be sampled or purchased.

   I rushed back armed with a bottle of 1976 Taittinger Comtes de Champagne Rose that I had bought from the cellar door in Reims, ready to celebrate her marriage to George.

   2010, Andrew Blake, “The Metrolope & La Bouillabaisse”, in Blake’s Feast: A Life in Food, Chatswood, Sydney, N.S.W.; Auckland: New Holland Publishers, →ISBN, page 32

   1 more example

   The 1996 Semillon Sauvignon Blanc I tasted at the cellar door was a very stylish polished wine with lifted aromatic jasmine and passionfruit aromas leaping out of the glass.

   1998, Thomas K. Hardy, “Margaret River [Driftwood Estate]”, in The Australian Wine Pictorial Atlas, 1998–99 edition, Linden Park, S.A.: Thomas K. Hardy, Vintage Image Productions, →ISBN, page 307, column 2