L'If

L'If, St Emilion, 2022

Name: L'If, St Emilion
Brand: L'If
Price: 808 GBP

93/100

Inside Bordeaux

93-95/100

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

93/100

The Wine Independent

94/100

Vinous

Available Vintages

all 2011 2013 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024

delivery

in bond

portfolio

2022
6x75cl
DP
£978.34

En primeur

2022
3x1.5L
EP
£808.00
2022
1x3L
EP
£577.00

Justerini & Brooks Tasting note

It is ten years since Jacques started this project and in that time half of the 8 hectares have been replanted. Today, some of the fruit from these new plots is gradually entering the blend of L'If, young vines that Jacques says are looking

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GUARANTEED PROVENANCE

Provenance in fine wine

When it comes to purchasing wine, provenance is of utmost importance. A wine’s history – where it’s sourced from and how it’s been stored – can have an enormous influence on the eventual enjoyment it provides. At Justerini & Brooks, we can trace nearly every case back to the domaine, estate or Château it originally came from; we ship from over 200 wine producers throughout the world.

Wines not bought directly from the vineyard are either sourced from trusted suppliers, with whom we share the same philosophy and rigour in buying, or from our own network of Cellarers customers. These customers’ wines are stored in optimal conditions in Octavian Corsham and, in the vast majority of cases, have been stored by us since the wine was first shipped. We do not purchase wine from auctions.

We feel it is equally important to for our customers that the case they buy and leave in storage with us is exactly the same case they subsequently have delivered. This may sound obvious and straightforward, yet we are one of very few merchants to have taken measures to ensure this.

We have created a system where every case is independent, thereby ensuring a trail of ownership and peace of mind for every customer.

The Journey

Justerinis ensures that every case of wine stored with Cellarers (Wines) Ltd has a unique identifier and customer’s name, almost unheard of in the industry as it is expensive to administer. These details are printed and placed on every case which is logged and recorded under your account name and kept in the world’s most renowned storage facility, Octavian Corsham.

This information is sent from our systems to the warehouse every day to ensure the trail of ownership is verified and upheld.

While customer reserves are stored in Corsham, our physical stocks are kept in Hoddesdon, further providing a geographical separation between customers’ wines with Cellarers and Justerinis’ own stock.

Further Reassurance

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is a legally separate limited company from Justerini & Brooks which currently holds approximately £450 million worth of customer reserves. It is fully insured to catastrophic loss. Many merchants will state that wine in their care is fully insured, but in reality this is on an individual case basis with insufficient cover for total loss as this is prohibitively expensive. The cover provided by Octavian and Justerini & Brooks is unmatched.

Cellarers (Wines) Ltd is audited by PwC every year.

Critic Reviews

93/100

Chris Kissack,

The Wine Independent

The blend of L’If in this vintage is 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, with an élevage in 50% new oak and 50% second-fill oak. The grand vin comes mostly from vines on clay-limestone soils around the cellars, while the second wine Collines takes wines from lower sections such as a parcel near Lassègue. A very pure and focused nose here, fresh and fragrant, with finely polished red cherry and currant, with rose petal and peony. The palate has the same elegance as the nose, pure and precise, with finely delineated and fresh and floral red fruits, red cherry, raspberry, rose and peony, with a rich, limestone derived tannic grip. A delicious, focused and linear composition, with limestone acidity and grip persisting into the length. An elegant St Emilion so different in style (obviously) to the more famous wines of the Thienpont family. I can see this developing well over ten years and more on that structure. The alcohol is 14% on the label, 14.3% on analysis.

drinking window 2028 - 2055

date of review 06/2025

94/100

Neal Martin,

Vinous

The 2022 L'If, bottled last June, has a delectable, finely tuned nose with a touch of blackberry, light estuarine scents (as observed in barrel) and a pastille-like purity that is very endearing and nuanced. The palate is medium-bodied with fine tannins, wonderful sapidity and just the right amount of weight. The 20% Cabernet Franc lends a slight pepperiness with gentle grip and a long tail. Fresh from start to finish, this is a Saint-Émilion to savor for the next 15 to 20 years. This is superb.

drinking window 2030 - 2055

date of review 02/2025

93/100

Jane Anson,

Inside Bordeaux

Deep plum colour with violet reflections, and this is full of limestone intensity and grip, with fragrant floral aromatics. Bitter edge of black chocolate, fennel and aniseed, cassis fruits, real purity of character. Cyril Thienpont winemaker. Owned by the Thienponts since 2010. Harvest September 14 to 26. 50% new oak. 35hl/h yield. 3.52ph. New barrel cellar from 2023 vintage, 4,000l Stockinger barrels. 50% new oak.

drinking window 2028 - 2040

date of review 05/2023

93-95/100

William Kelley,

Robert Parker Wine Advocate

Aromas of raspberries, cherries, spices and bay leaf introduce the 2022 L'If, a medium to full-bodied, layered and fleshy wine that's taut and vibrant, built around lively acids and fine, chalky tannins. A blend of 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc, the decision to halve the volume of pump-overs have delivered a suave Saint-Emilion, even in this structured vintage.

date of review 04/2023

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Specifications

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abv:

14.5%

allergen information

This product may contain sulphites. Full allergen information is available upon request, please call our Customer Relations Team on +44 (0)20 7484 6430.