My least favourite part of wine tasting is the spitting. First of all, it’s not as easy as it looks. Secondly, I’ve always been a bit of a priss, and I think horking in public ranks pretty high vulgarity scale — perhaps the equivalent of puking from a moving taxi.

But the thing I enjoy least about spitting is that it creates awkward social moments at wine shows. I recently attended Vintages’ trade exposition for VQA Ontario wines. Each winery had its own booth, and the winemakers poured the samples. On each booth was a spit bucket. The stalls belonging to the best wineries were densely thronged with people, while the mediocre ones were barren, with the winemakers uncomfortably waiting for someone to pay them some attention.  

I wanted to try the best wine I could find, but when it came time to spit, the busy booths were always too crowded, so I was continually forced toward the unpopular stalls. Each time, the winemakers face would light up as I approached — and I would smile apologetically and spit at him, before walking away to get some better wine.

After the jump, some 2007 wines you most definitely will not want to spit out.

Fine wine’s alchemical transformation with years of bottle aging is the thing which separates it from any other alcohol. Even single malt scotch, wine’s only rival in complexity department, fails on this point: once it’s in the bottle, it does not evolve.

Last week, I wrote about one of my own DIY cellaring projects. I realize that not everyone has this kind of patience (or the space). Thankfully, there are still a number of ways to skip the creeping process of maturing wine and move directly to the instant gratification involved in drinking it.

After the jump: Matthew's shortcut suggestions into the world of mature wines.

Two years ago I started the Short Cellar, both this column and my own wine collection. The animating idea for both projects was simple: I wanted to see how I could improve moderately priced but well chosen wines by maturing them for short periods of 2-4 years.

My inaugural experiment was Cabernet Sauvignon from Chile. I bought several brands, sampled them, and then began aging a twin of each bottle. It seemed a good start: Cab Sauvignon is an excellent candidate for cellaring, and Chile is a great place to find this grape grown skilfully but sold cheaply, especially in comparison to pricey Napa Valley.

Now that they’ve had a couple years of aging, I’ve finally uncorked them to check on their progress. I’m pleased to report that the experiment was a success. All of them improved, but some excelled.

After the jump, find out which wines excelled in Matthew's early experiment.

Lately some great bargain wines have been trickling into the LCBO. During the middle of summer, it’s not always so good. The shelves are crowded with “BBQ wines”: code for excruciatingly fruity reds with all the subtlety of a propane mishap. Wine doesn’t need to be good to stand up to shortribs slathered in sauce — it just needs to be angry.

However, now that summer is holding the door open for autumn, BBQ wines will cede to some more subtle and dignified specimens, especially a couple fantastic deals from Europe.

Matthew has his top picks for fall — including one wine with notes of almonds and plaster — after the jump.