A lot of wine drinkers care not a whit about becoming better tasters, learning how to develop the their senses of smell and taste while partaking. No swirling, sniffing, slurping; just quaffing.

Good for them. Wine should be consumed in a fashion that suits the consumer.

Still, they're missing out on a truly fun learning experience. For those who do want to develop their tasting skills (including your humble correspondent), I asked for tips from some of the most experienced tasters around -- winemakers and winery owners. Their responses:

Kim Stare Wallace, Dry Creek Cellars: "I always recommend that people not be embarrassed to stick their schnozzes deep into the glass. This, combined with plentiful swirling to aerate the wine and open up the aromatics, is critical in wine tasting. Frankly, I think smelling the wine is almost more important than tasting it. If you can train your nose to be discerning, the mouth will follow."

Thomas Rivers Brown, Schrader, Outpost and Rivers Marie: "You look for the general first, then try to dial in the specific over time."

John Shafer, Shafer: "The first thing you should get in the aroma is not necessarily the fruit component, but the sharpness, the focus, how well-defined the wine is."

David Ramey, Ramey Wine Cellars: "You don't drink flavor descriptors. You drink texture. [Aroma is] not the main event, folks. Texture, balance, harmony. Put it in your mouth. It's tactile rather than a bunch of descriptors."

Ken Wright, Ken Wright Cellars: "Take advantage of any opportunity you can have to taste multiple wines at a time by getting a group together. And any opportunity you get to taste blind, which strips away any influences and makes the other senses a little more acute, do it, ideally with the same varietal or from the same general area."

David Graves, Saintsbury: "Pay attention to the mid-palate. It's the money part of the palate."

Mimi Casteel, Bethel Heights: "In the beginning, it helps a lot to rely on people who have similar palates; it helps you to understand what it is you like about the wines you gravitate toward. But I feel like I learn much more when I taste with people who appreciate wines that I have not. Finding people with whom you can enjoy a wine that is out of your usual comfort zone can greatly improve your sensory acuity and overall appreciation of the vast differences there are in wines."

Andy Cutter, Duxoup: "If you want to have fun doing it, find a wine you really like and learn everything you can about it, figure out what you really love about it. Do that with another wine, every two months. And in two years you'll know everything you need to know."

Bill Ward • bill.ward@startribune.com