Poll: what is the best way to taste a wine vertical?

I went to a great vertical tasting recently and will post about it shortly.  It brought up a very interesting question -- what is the optimal way to taste a vertical?  Do you drink the oldest first, figuring your palate would be blown out by the younger, more tannic wines?  Or, as so often happens, your palate is not truly "warmed up" until the 2d or 3d wine you are tasting so the 1st one gets short shrift.  Is there another way to taste a vertical, e.g., to warm up your palate by pre-tasting a type of food or drink that will prepare your senses so you hit the first wine in full stride?

With this in mind, we present the first-ever Silk Road of Wine blog poll (results to follow):