As a special gift, Maureen treated me to a week-end course on Wine Tasting at the University of Davis (about an hour away from Napa) called an “Introduction to Sensory Evaluation of Wine“. The course was not only very good in terms of teaching us the differences between smells and tastes, but also taught us a lot about wine making in general. I would highly recommend this course to anyone interested in learning more about wine.
I still find it very hard to discern all the different smells in the wines, but at least I have a better reference point for tasting. (our classroom)