L'If, St Emilion, 2025
L'If achieved a bumper crop of 38hl/ha thanks to clay and limestone soils that managed the water deficit in 2025. Initially quite herbaceous aromas mix with leafy Cabernet notes and minerals. More concentrated than usual, with pure morello cherry, salty red fruits and cranberries. Whilst this is long and refined with a hint of oak spice, the acidity at 3.28pH is very present.
critic reviews
The 2025 L'If was picked from September 11 to 19 and matured in 50% new French oak and 50% one-year-old barrels. This vintage contains a little more Cabernet Franc (25%). A mélange of red and blueberry fruit on the nose, hints of iris flower and just a hint of blood orange. Fine definition, quite understated in style. The palate is medium-bodied with crunchy tannins on the entry, citrus-fresh and the limestone element shapes the profile on the finish. Bright acids, very tensile. It will be fascinating to revisit this L'If after bottling.
Explodes out of the glass, a wine where you can easily read the terroir, intense with oyster shell salinity, chalky tannins, lovely grip, slow and steady unrolling, olive pit, baking spices, fragrant iris and peony character. Clings on, and this is truly an expertly-handled expression of the soils, 3.3ph. 50% new oak. 3.28 pH. Harvest September 11 to 19, now in full production, 8ha, youngest vines from 2019.
Aromas of cherries, rose petals and a touch of new oak introduce the 2025 L'If, a medium- to full-bodied, taut and rather compact wine built around a prominent spine of acidity (the pH is 3.28) that lends it a somewhat intellectual profile.