With tasting notes, YMMV. Some are fluffery, some are technical. If the writer is also the seller, then there may be aftertones of salt.
But those with good noses (and palates) can pick up a lot from good tasting notes. My wife, for example, who has far superior perception than I in these things.
A point to note. Just because the notes might say (say) "mango, sour apples, old tobacco" doesn't mean the drink will taste like those things juiced up and mixed together. It means that the compound that gives mango the taste that characterises it from another fruit is present. We're talking about the esters and chemical compounds here.
It's because with taste and smell we really have no precise language to describe the perception. With vision, we can talk colour, wavelength, shape, contrast and so on. With sound, it's frequency, harmony, character. We know a human voice from a dog's bark, a bugle from a jet plane. With wines and whiskies, there are few solid measures we can rely upon. Alcohol strength, peatiness - that's about it for firm numbers. We have to fall back on associations with other tastes and smells.
Even then, that's a very wibbly-wobbly way to paint the picture. We all have likes and dislikes, cultural backgrounds, personal experiences, that distort our perceptions. I'm reading
Mary Roach's latest book, and she talks about how the Allies tried to make stink bombs to annoy their enemies. They discovered that odours that smelt offensive to American noses did not necessarily have the same effect on Japanese, who had experienced a far different diet and lifestyle since birth. On a commercial level, a product intended to smell of vomit to dissuade dieters from opening their fridge was liked by some so much they rated it as a perfume they would wear!
As I said, your mileage may vary (or, you make me vomit). Consider who is writing the tasting notes and adjust expectations accordingly. What's written on the label of a five dollar chardy will have less
gravitas and authority than what James Halliday has to say.
And there's no better recommendation than yourself. Find something you like, you'll probably like the second glass, the second bottle, the second carton.