Trying to be an 'expert' in wine is very difficult, extremely time consuming, expensive, and ultimately not very practical for anyone who aspires to be anything other than a sommelier. At one point in my life, I had a respectable base of wine knowledge and was confronted with the decision to either start getting more serious about wine - and have it be a thing in my life, or to stop where I was, devote my time to other things, and be happy with what I had learned. In the end, I thought it just wasn't worth it to keep learning more about something that increasingly had little value to me.

The best advice I can give to anyone who wants to learn is to first get the Wine Bible, which is the best wine reference book in my opinion - comprehensive and affordable. Next, be sure to always get two bottles for tasting. This way you can learn through comparison. For example, buy a mid-high and a mid-low range Cab (preferably from the same region and vintage), open them both up and pour a glass of each. Now you'll be able to compare the same varietal of roughly the same terroir and learn from their differences. It'll stick better than just having a glass of something in front of you. But you gotta study those two glasses. Don't pour it with friends over who just want a drink. Pour it, smell it, hold it up to the light, spin it around (note the viscosity), sip it, swish it, chew it, fold it over your tongue, breathe with it in your mouth, swallow it and sit there. Let the taste fade and notice how the warmth decays. You gotta take your time and make love to that shit.

And a thing or two about etiquette: Always always always pour ladies first. Oldest to youngest. And for god's sake get rid of all those newfangled gadgets like the butterfly screw thingy, the wine collar, or the stopper. Just get a decent double-hinged wine key and learn how to use it well.