When my husband and I went out to dinner last Friday night, the waiter raved about the Charles Smith 06 Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon form Columbia Valley.  I'd never drunk a Cab from Washington, so I ordered a glass.  It was very disappointing. 

When I think of Cab, I think big and bold: the tannins are what give it structure.  This was likely drinking a smooth Merlot.  There wasn't depth, just a lot of fruit to the point of jam.  All that would have been OK if I'd been expecting it.  I wasn't.  I thought I was drinking Cabernet Sauvignon, which I ordered to pair with an elk tenderloin.  The pairing was boring.  No robustness, no symbiosis.  Perhaps I'm being a little hard on the wine.  But at $15 for a glass (at the restaurant mark-up), I wouldn't order it again.