2006 Château de Puligny-Montrachet Monthélie

This delightful Pinot Noir shows an exotic spiciness along with red fruits and earth followed by a nice touch of acidity, smooth tannins and a long finish. Delicious. On Monthélie (map):

Monthélie is the smallest village on the Côte de Beaune, with Volnay to the northeast, Meursault to the south and Auxey-Duresses to the west. The monks from Cluny planted the first vines here around the year 1000, but traces of human settlements go all the way back to Gallo-Roman times and beyond.

The Monthélie premier crus were extended as recently as 2006; going from eleven to 15 in number when Les Clous, Le Clos des Toisières, Le Clou des Chênes and La Barbière were promoted from village status to premier cru. Nine of the premier crus are located east of the village; being an extension of the Volnay premier cru Clos des Chênes. The Monthélie wines are often described as lesser Volnays, but at more reasonable prices. Most of what is produced in Monthélie is red; white wine only accounting for four or five percent.

This would be perfect with the spices often seen at Oleana (BostonChefs.com on Oleana), where Theresa Paopao has assembled a great wine list.  My choices for the evening:

• NV Sparkling Gruner Veltliner, E. Gruber ‘Punkt Genau,’ Weinviertal, Austria
  
• 2002 Cabernet Sauvignon, Cinsault (plus another Rhone varietal), Chateau Musar, Bekka Valley, Lebanon (My first Lebanese wine!  Have you ever had Lebanese or Israeli wine?  Please share in the comments.)
  

Right now, I'm thinking of the delicious fried mussels with hot peppers and Turkish Tarator sauce--the crunchy romaine lettuce underneath worked great from a textural standpoint with the sparkling Groovy--and also THE LAMB steak, cooked rare with fava bean moussaka...yum, especially delicious with the Chateau Musar.