I'll Take the Pepper, Please, and Make It Green; or, What's Often Missing in Cabernet Sauvignon

I was tasting a range of red wines yesterday, and pulled the cork on a bottle of the Rodney Strong Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, Sonoma County, a 100-percent varietal wine that can typically be relied upon to be solid, well-made and flavorful, not exciting, perhaps, but

better than decent, like the Dad in a television show. Swirling the wine in the glass and …