If it makes you feel any better, I'm one of those obnoxious people where, if you put six spices in a meal, I'll be able to tell you what two of them are, guess two more, and have a 50/50 chance at what's left. My palate is not superlative but I have decent senses of taste and smell. That said, the terms used in describing wine are… argumentative, to my way of thinking. People do the same thing with Scotch and for me, it all boils down to "more or less sweet" "more or less smoky" "more or less complex" and "more or less proof." I've got five single-malts in the cabinet right now and three blends.
I'm not educated about wine, but certainly the same thing exists with scotch. There are a couple more descriptors that apply, for example honey, vanilla and fruity are scotch terms that can be understood in certain ways that are consistent (although the flavors they refer to don't exactly match what we think of as honey or vanilla in their more traditional forms). But definitely when they start using terms like "Notes of rubber spearmint leaves and gentle smoke with a hint of warm kippers" (which is how Master of Malt describes my favorite whisky), that's when my eyes start rolling.