2017 Château L'If

The 2017 L'If is fabulous. Rich and dense in the glass, the 2017 possesses off-the-charts intensity and vertical explosiveness. Black cherry, chocolate, licorice, smoke and dried flowers infuse the 2017 with tremendous complexity as well as nuance. The tannins are pretty much buried by the sheer depth of the fruit, while bright floral and spice notes punctuate the super-expressive finish.

The 2017 L’If is the sibling property to Le Pin since it is owned by Jacques Thienpont and Fiona Morrison. The wine has a voluminous dark cherry and cranberry scented bouquet with light iodine touches. The palate is medium-bodied with fleshy ripe red fruit, fine-boned tannins with moderate acidity. A gentle and caressing L’If that will drink earlier than the previous vintage and doubtless the following.

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.