Hopefully you’ve developed an effective swirling technique. The question that some encounter is how best to sniff and smell the aromas.
Some wine enthusiasts (myself included) feel it’s best to stick your nose as far into the glass as you can. I will put the rim of the glass right against my upper lip and inhale deeply. Others believe that the aromas are best an inch or two above the rim of the glass. I’ve found aromas there, but they are not as strong (to my nose) as deep in the glass.
In the end, the best way to sniff your wine is a personal matter. If you find your nose works best when hovering above the glass, that’s great. If you find you achieve the best results by putting your nose right into the glass, then do it. You can even take some sniffs above the glass and some in the glass.
Bottom line, there’s no right answer. Of course, you aren’t much of a wine enthusiast if you don’t use this topic as an excuse to pour some wine and “do some homework.”
A couple of other topics are worth mentioning here. First, you can sometimes increase the strength of the aromas if you put your hand over the top of the glass while you swirl, thus holding the aromas in until you move your hand away. Second, if you find your sense of smell becoming a bit dulled, smell your hand, your sleeve, or some other item–doing so “resets” your sense of smell so you can go back to the wine and smell it like it’s a new aroma.
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I find it helpful to sniff in many different ways, swirling and without swirling, lightly and deeply. However I always stick my nose in the glass. An analogy I like to use is: the wine is like a sculpture. Sniffing it is like looking at it. Sniffing in different ways is like looking at the sculpture from different angles. It’s a 3-dimensional sculpture, so why not?
I feel that sniffing from an inch or two above the glass is silly - would you peer at a Picasso through a pinhole?
Just my $.02