This wine was in the perfect place, by my lights. Mushroom and kirsch on the nose, in the mouth, plum with notes of black tea and soil, leading to a nice full, long finish. Extraordinarily balanced wine with every component in the right place. Les Marechaudes apparently means, or once meant, marshes, and this is not the biggest red Corton, being a low-lying plot, while still rated a Grand Cru. But it was not expensive, even as a backfill, and gave me everything I want in red burgundy. Lovely.
Thanks for the report. I remember buying Merode Corton’s many years ago, and finding them mid-weight and underwhelming, not realizing until later that they were simply not mature. A few years ago at a Corton tasting, I was busy telling everyone that I’d never really been impressed by a Merode wine, only to move on to the 1995 (or 96-can’t quite remember) Merode Renardes that someone had brought that was really in a beautiful place.
I also used to denigrate Corton and considered it not to be grand cru—till I had a couple 30 and 40 year old bottles. Wow!