As always, comparing the "East" and the "West" creates an exaggerated dichotomy that does not necessarily describe the full complexity of either culture. For the purposes of this discussion, however, some generalizations can certainly be drawn by comparing the Eastern tea ceremony and the Western wine tasting.
The tea ceremony is primarily a ritual. Each step, from the laying out of the implements to the actual pouring of the tea, is performed carefully, with the fullest attention to detail. Every part of it, even the seemingly insignificant parts, matter to the presentation as a whole. A well-executed tea ceremony can be compared almost to a spiritual experience.
The wine tasting is a ritual, but in a very different sense. It is much more like an experiment. The most important part of it is the wine itself, which is carefully analyzed using set steps while drinking it. The table, the cup, the manner of pouring - all these are secondary. While wine connoisseurs may think they are in heaven when they drink a good wine, wine tasting is a primarily physical experience.
The tea ceremony is an act of service by one person toward another. The server will set out the dishes and carefully pour the tea for the other. There may be more than two people present, but usually no more than a small group of people in one place. Thus it is a fairly private occasion, usually taking place in someone's home or even in a special room constructed specifically for tea ceremonies.
The wine tasting is usually a public occasion with any number of people participating. It may take place at a public venue, in a large classroom, or at the original winery where the wine was made. Of course, if the winery allows people to try their wine, they also expect that some of those people will buy their wine as well.
Participating in a tea ceremony is something to do as a cultural experience, because one really likes tea, or because one likes the company that will be present at the ceremony. Westerners often think the tea served at a tea ceremony is too bitter, but Japanese people are quite used to it and drink their tea down completely as an enjoyable experience. Usually just one cup of tea is served, with perhaps a bit of a sweet afterward.
Participating in a wine tasting is something to do as a job, because one really likes wine, or because one wants to experience a variety of flavors. Some people actually are paid to be professional wine tasters and give their opinions on the various aspects of wines they taste. There may be people that make a living teaching how to perform the tea ceremony, but it would certainly be a rare thing to be paid for tasting the tea itself. Furthermore, at wine tasting events with many different wines, tasters often spit their wine out so that they are not affected by the alcohol in the wine. Until perhaps the last few tastes, the wine is not really drunk at all, only tasted, literally.
To really understand the difference between the two, try imagining what would happen if the drinks were switched. The tea ceremony could go on with wine instead of tea. The ritual would be the same; the contents of the cup would not severely affect the process or the general experience. However, try drinking tea with the intent of categorizing and analyzing it the way tasters do wine. It would not work very well.
From these comparisons, we can make the generalizations that the East has more of a private, service-oriented mindset, focused on the whole of a shared experience, while the West has more of a public, business-oriented mindset, focused on isolating aspects of individual experiences. The idea of only tasting one's drink instead of actually drinking it has some overtones of being offered something and then having it snatched away. It is certainly a practical consideration where alcohol is concerned. However, where the tea ceremony allows one to drink a cup of tea fully and really enjoy it for the experience, the wine tasting seems to force one to spend a few moments on a number of different things and never really enjoy any of them.