While professional wine tasters such as sommeliers undertake rigorous examinations to learn how to analyze and best describe the flavors, aromas and general characteristics of wines, for the average wine enthusiast it is much more of a recreational event, allowing oneself to explore the wine world using a less analytical approach but still using similar terminology.
I believe that a good wine tasting experience should leave you with a sense of achievement. You should walk away with more knowledge about wine, more appreciation and certainly have bought more wine from the vineyards you were in!
Wine tasting is one activity that never tires me and if this was an Olympic sport, I have no doubt that I would win a gold medal. The longer I am at a wine tasting, the more developed my sensory skills become. (This might be due to the fact that I do not spit my wine out in a spittoon!)
Your first wine tasting experience should be compared to that of a child tasting their first piece of chocolate.
