Setting up Your Tasting Table
For best results when tasting, your wine table should be equipped with six glasses ranging in quality from 1k to 9k, leaving one empty slot."But Calixes," you say. "Last telling, it was ideal to have all 9k quality glasses."
Things have changed this telling. Each wine flavor has two or three "tiers" to it: a simple flavor (tasted in no- or low-quality glasses), a mid-range flavor (some flavors lack this), and a complex flavor (tasted in high quality glasses). For single flavor wines with only two known tiers of flavors (like Carmelization/Butterscotch), a range of glasses isn't important: one 9k glass and one default tasting table glass will get you both the possible flavors. The goal, though, is to get your hands on more complex wines, and with those, having a selection of glasses is key. With a properly equipped table, as you taste from each glass, you're more likely to get more of the different possible combinations of tier 1-3 flavors from multiple-flavor wines. Having a broad selection of glasses gives the best possible chance of scoring points.
This is how we have our table set up at home, and the results have been really great. There are people who choose only to install three glasses: 3k, 6k, 9k. This is okay, but it's wasteful. They're missing flavor combinations (and therefore points) that would happen in all the in-between spots. The folks who install no glasses at all are gaining even less.
If you're having a hard time finding a suitable table, ask around in your region, or use the public one we've set up in the large red CP just southeast of the UE CS.
New information: EldradUlthran suggested to me today that the optimal arrangement for a general table is: 0 (no glass), 4500 quality, 6500 quality, 7500 quality, 8000 quality, 8666 quality, and 9300 quality. He says that the extra glass in the 8k range will yield more points than, say, a 1500 quality glass will. This arrangement could work better for solo drinkers looking for points.