Length of Time for Wine in Mouth...

[quijote]

This may seem like a weird question, but when you're tasting wine, how long do you keep it in your mouth? Is it unusual to hold and taste a slurp of wine for 30 seconds or more?

I ask because more and more I'm tasting a slurp of wine for a good long time--usually for 10-20 seconds, and sometimes a bit more.

If I'm trying to detect the flavors and aromas that others detect, am I overdoing it? I mean, if the "start" of the taste takes maybe a couple of seconds or so, and if the finish has its own longevity after the swallow, can a "center palate" experience legitimately last for 10-25 seconds? Or are there other stages I should be looking for?

How long do tasting note writers such as Parker, Suckling, Bucko, and others hold and savor a gulp of wine? If the time frame is shorter than the 10-30 second average I've been doing, is it because the advanced tasters just know what to look for and therefore don't have to retain the juice unless they really want to (or have the time)? Or is my time frame average or below average?

I apologize if this is a dumb question; I really don't have friends who are as interested in wine as much as I am, so I don't have other tasters in my world to bounce these issues off of.

-Q