Tasting: It’s not always good

I’m incredibly lucky that I live in an area where excellent dining and wine choices are abundant. I have regular access to food and wine that folks in many areas can only dream of seeing. So, lucky for me, bad meals and bad wines are a rare occurrence. But they do occur.
The dilemma when one blogs about food and wine — especially when in the business himself — is what to do about disappointing experiences. I hate writing negative things about restaurants and wines that I know are labors of love by their producers. Personally, such writing can cause some awkward moments with my peers. Professionally, such candor can come back and, well, honestly, bite me in the ass.
Folks should keep in mind that my experiences are just that, my own. Your mileage may vary. With just a few exceptions, we go to restaurants that have good reputations and drink wines that come recommended by folks I trust. If you try the wines that disappoint me (or the ones I like) or dine in places I pan (or those I loved) and don’t agree with my assessment, I would love to hear about it. I’m all for giving them a second chance.
With restaurants, I’ll try to write about what I experienced that was both good and bad.
With wines, I score wines very literally and strictly based on the Cellartracker.com scale. Note, 75-79 while damning in some publications, means “Average.” Although in this day and age, I believe it is not that difficult to find an above average wine at almost any price point, average does mean average. To me, it is a competent, if unremarkable wine.
Cellartracker scale:
* Extraordinary (96-100 points)
* Outstanding (90-95)
* Very Good to Excellent (85-89)
* Good (80-84)
* Average (75-79)
* Below average (70-74)
* Avoid (50-70)