- Colour Red
- Producer Château l'If
- Region St Emilion
- Grape Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot
- Drinking 2023 - 2037
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
2017 - L'If St Emilion - 6x75cl
- Colour Red
- Producer Château l'If
- Region St Emilion
- Grape Cabernet Franc / Cabernet Sauvignon / Merlot
- Drinking 2023 - 2037
- Case size 6x75cl
- Available Now
Select pricing type
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Goedhuis, April 2018, Score: 93-95
Thanks to its position on top of the plateau, Jacque Thienpont’s small 8 hectare estate avoided the spring frost. 91% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc, this is a beauty. Lovely perfumed aroma of dark currants. A very gentle, soft harmonious style, highlighting how elegance can also have intensity. Beautifully long with sensual fruit on the finish. Delicious.
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Goedhuis, April 2018, Score: 93-95
Thanks to its position on top of the plateau, Jacque Thienpont’s small 8 hectare estate avoided the spring frost. 91% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc, this is a beauty. Lovely perfumed aroma of dark currants. A very gentle, soft harmonious style, highlighting how elegance can also have intensity. Beautifully long with sensual fruit on the finish. Delicious.
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Neal Martin, April 2018, Score: 90-92
The 2017 L’If includes an additional hectare this year, one of four replanted after it was purchased by Jacques Thienpont and it includes some Cabernet Franc. It was picked between 28 September and 4 October with hardly any vines touched by frost. It has a very lucid purple hue. The bouquet is quite opulent and very pure, quite focused and gaining in clarity in the glass with copious blueberry, cassis and pastille like aromas. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannin. It might not be the most complex L’If I have tasted but I like the salinity that comes through in its final third. Give this three or four years in bottle. 2022 - 2040
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Antonio Galloni, April 2018, Score: 94-97
The 2017 L'If is beautifully precise and lifted, with terrific energy and tension, much of it from the 9% Cabernet Franc that informs the blend this year. The bright, red-toned fruit, tobacco and floral notes are finely sculpted in this super-polished Saint-Émilion. The 2017 is a bit restrained relative to prior vintages, but that seems to suit the wine just fine. This is a stellar showing from Jacques and Cyrille Thienpont. Tasted two times.
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Wine Advocate, April 2018, Score: 90-92
Blended of 91% Merlot with 9% Cabernet Franc, the 2017 L'If is deep garnet-purple in color, featuring beautiful crushed red cherries and black raspberries on the nose with underlying black plums, baking spices and roses notes plus a waft of Sichuan pepper. Medium-bodied with wonderfully elegant tannins and beautiful freshness, it has well-sustained mid-palate fruit and a long, earth-laced finish.
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James Suckling, April 2018, Score: 92-93
Linear and very tight and focused with blueberries, blackberries and hints of hazelnuts and spices. Medium-to full-bodied, tight and focused. Delicate and very fine.
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Matthew Jukes, April 2018, Score: 17
. The Cabernet Franc element comes from younger vines of only four years old. There is an incredible freshness here and it is chiselled and bright. In addition, there is a rich depth of fruit in the core and an added dark fruit element which props up the centre of the wine and it is very refreshing. There is cleansing acidity here which is partly to do with the Cabernet Franc element, too.
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Jancis Robinson, April 2018, Score: 16.5
Deepest crimson with purple rim. Lifted, lively peppery pure fruit. A little more extraction than for Le Pin and planning to pick a little earlier. No stems. So rich in fruit and lovely freshness even with compact tannins. Exuberant fruit and super-smooth texture. Long, too. (JH) 14.2% Drink 2022-2029
Region
St Emilion
South of Pomerol lies the medieval, perched village of St Emilion. Surrounding St Emilion are vines that produce round, rich and often hedonistic wines. Despite a myriad of soil types, two main ones dominate - the gravelly, limestone slopes that delve down to the valley from the plateau and the valley itself which is comprised of limestone, gravel, clay and sand. Despite St Emilion's popularity today, it was not until the 1980s to early 1990s that attention was brought to this region. Robert Parker, the famous wine critic, began reviewing their Merlot-dominated wines and giving them hefty scores. The rest is history as they say. Similar to the Médoc, there is a classification system in place which dates from 1955 and outlines several levels of quality. These include its regional appellation of St Emilion, St Emilion Grand Cru, St Emilion Grand Cru Classé and St Emilion Premier Grand Cru Classé, which is further divided into "A" (Ausone and Cheval Blanc) and "B" (including Angélus, Canon, Figeac and a handful of others). To ensure better accuracy, the classification is redone every 10 years enabling certain châteaux to be upgraded or downgraded depending on on the quality of their more recent vintages.