Joe, I've done wine judging for a few club competitions (amateur), it's hard not to be subjective when you taste a wine that you like. You just have to try and follow the competition rules. One thing I always did, was to go back to number one and re-taste it again. Sometimes I had to change my markings.
I'm no expert, far from it, but I can tell a good wine from an indifferent one.
I sniff, swirl, roll it round my tongue, but if I wasn't judging, I was more like Peter Lorre.
Like most of the folk on the forum, I enjoy making wine, I enjoy drinking it more than tasting it!