samples of wines are assessed by a reviewer who measures multiple variables including light transmission, specific gravity, residual sugar, salinity, boiling point etc.
I have had the good fortune to work professionally with wineries and know a few wine/grape experts, including one whose family has a California winery. I have visited many and been on behind the scenes tours with wine makers and other professionals. What you describe is EXACTLY how wines are grown and made. The poetry about the nose and the personality and the terroir enter in the tasting and marketing phase. There is art but there is a very firm foundation of science. That is one of the reasons cheap wines these days are much, much better than they used to be.
I think your analogy is a good one. The serious hifi designers and builders I know of design, build and test with measurements. They listen too. The poetry here also comes with the marketing and promotion part of the business.
The one segment of hifi I wonder about is cables. It is possible that is all done with subjective judgement.
ASR is a good reference and a useful service. Stereophile has the best approach to reviewing in my opinion. I like the poetry but pure subjectivity without at least an attempt to tie it to verifiable fact is useless to me.
A good friend is an audio junky and also in the retail wine biz. I can attest selling wine is a LOT like selling hifi. There are always customers who think the higher price wine is always the best, and they won't settle for anything less :-)