Well, winery tours and "usual wine tastings" aren't usually where you drink very good wine. And those manning the bar (at the bigger places) are often corporate employees working for Diageo or similar, and have nothing in the game but a paycheck and a desire for the shift to end.

Sometimes I taste things from the tasting notes, sometimes I taste things on my own, sometimes I think the person(s) making the tasting notes was high.

Cork is an entirely different story. FT has some extensive discussions on same.

Pretentiousness and winesnobbery - make it your amusement and entertainment. One of my friends was a tasting room manager for some time (at a few places) and she would toy with the faux-snobs and they didn't even realize how rude she was being at times. However, if I ever end up on a wine tour again, especially one where the owner's ego is massaged at every stop, someone put me out of my misery, immediately.

I drink a lot of $10 and under imports, and most of it is pretty good. Once in awhile there's a "I gotta go back and buy a case of it." Rarely do I taste anything special other than something apply, berry-ish, mineral-y, and some other more common profiles.

Now, back to the cat pee.
(If you don't get it, leave and go read another thread.)