It's odd that it's not mentioned explicitly in either article, but I have certainly had it stressed before that when smelling wine, or whisk(e)y, or coffee that

It's odd that it's not mentioned explicitly in either article, but I have certainly had it stressed before that when smelling wine, or whisk(e)y, or coffee that you should have your mouth open. Also, the "sniff" is not as if you had the sniffles, but a gentle inhalation. So, even if they are not saying so in the articles, I suspect the experts are doing something rather similar to what you describe.