About 17 years ago when I was in a small but high end BYO wine dinner group, we always had an 8 top at 11 Madison Park with a somm and great wines. The best dinner I had there was probably my best US meal anywhere. Grand Cru Burgundy was the theme with a custom menu to match. I was hoping my wine would deliver amongst other GC. I brought 93 Jadot Corton Pougets and it held its own against heavy weights such as 90 Bachelet Charmes Chambertin-one of my top 3 Burgundy experiences.
If you really want a grand cru that is reasonably priced (relative to other grand crus) and can taste good on the younger side (although very primary and not nearly what it will become) I recommend Chapelle Chambertin, Latricieres Chambertin and Charmes Chambertin over Corton. But, really, if you aren’t going to let the wines age, what really is the point of buying a Grand Cru Burgundy - just to say you have had one without really having any sense of why they are special?
Yes, it’s a very steep hill and the vineyard is horseshoe shaped, so you have very different exposures and elevations at different points within Corton.
Can’t really think of much Red Corton I would consciously seek out. But I will say that while I used to think DRC’s Corton was absolutely bottom of the hierarchy, the last few vintages have been impressive. I think I like it more than Echezeaux. Which is a low bar I guess, but still!
Seconding Domaine des Croix and Chandon des Briailles though. Stylistically different but tasty stuff.
Tonight I’m opening a Domaine Laurent 2006 Corton. No idea from whom he sourced his grapes that year. The main reason for opening is to check in, since I bought my bottles back in 2008 or 2009 for all of $25.00 from Premier Cru. There have been a lot of notes stating that the Corton purchased from the infamous Premier Cru have been cooked. Presumably due to the storage/shipping of PC’s source, not inherent to all 2006 Laurent Corton…