A curious wine that offers lots of fruit character on the nose, beginning with blackberries and flowers that move to integrated tannins, proceeding to a firmness and a well-framed palate. 80% merlot and 20% cabernet franc. This needs four or five years but is lovely already.

The perfume grabs you with its flowers, mint, plums, cherries, plums, and tobacco characteristics. On the palate, the wine is lush, lively, and fresh, with concentration, depth, and width. The mid-palate features ripe, sweet, and energetic fruits all touched by its limestone terroir that carry through to the finish. The wine blends 80% Merlot with 20% Cabernet Franc. Drink from 2027-2055.

The 2022 L'If is seriously beautiful. Dark, racy and layered, the 2022 captures all the natural intensity of the year and yet remains so polished. L'If is 80% Merlot (from four parcels) and 20% Cabernet Franc (from two parcels), spread across Saint-Émilion. The 2022 spent 14 months in French oak, 50% new. A touch more Cabernet Franc than in the early days and a parcel on the St. Etienne de Lisse plateau (from 2020 on) have added more aromatic freshness and vivacity here, which is especially beneficial in torrid vintages. As good as the 2022 is today, I get the impression there is a lot in reserve. -- Antonio Galloni

The 2022 Château L'If comes from eight hectares of vines, mostly located on the upper plates near Troplong Mondot. Based on 80% Merlot and 20% Cabernet Franc raised in 50% new oak, its deep ruby/purple hue is followed by a pure, incredibly elegant wine that has a core of black raspberry fruit as well as sappy flowers, chalky minerality, and hints of forest floor. Playing in the medium-bodied, silky, elegant end of the spectrum, it brings beautiful purity, ultra-fine tannins, and a great finish. The level of purity, finesse, and minerality here is something. Give bottles 3-5 years and enjoy over the following two decades.

Richly textured but not heavy, shining with red cherries, strawberries, and creamy blackcurrants. Fresh, alive, and full of tension, driving in a precise, straight line. Silky, seductive, yet playful, with crystalline fruit and fine tannins. Concentrated but energetic and finessed, with hints of limestone terroir. Plush yet balanced, with flinty, liquorice salt lingering. Just brilliant.

Aromas of sweet cherries, berries and plums mingled with hints of licorice and a discreet framing of toasty oak introduce the 2022 L'If, a medium to full-bodied, suave and polished wine that's lively, seamless and refined, concluding with a chalky, mineral finish. This is one of the best wines from this estate to date. - William Kelley

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.

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. - Chris Kissack

Shows enticing freshness, with boysenberry and blackberry confiture flavors and aromas laced with violet and iris hints and caressed by anise and black tea on the alluring finish. A subtle, chalky minerality deftly underpins the finish. Merlot and Cabernet Franc. Best from 2026 through 2036. - JM