About this WINE
L'If
L’If is the St Emilion outpost of Jacques Thienpont, best known as the proprietor of Le Pin in Pomerol. The Thienpont family bought L’If in 2010 and have carried out extensive replanting work on the nine-hectare property. The name L’If can be translated to “yew tree”. The portfolio also includes L’Hêtre in Castillon-Côtes de Bordeaux.
St-Emilion
St Emilion is one of Bordeaux's largest producing appellations, producing more wine than Listrac, Moulis, St Estèphe, Pauillac, St Julien and Margaux put together. St Emilion has been producing wine for longer than the Médoc but its lack of accessibility to Bordeaux's port and market-restricted exports to mainland Europe meant the region initially did not enjoy the commercial success that funded the great châteaux of the Left Bank.
St Emilion itself is the prettiest of Bordeaux's wine towns, perched on top of the steep limestone slopes upon which many of the region's finest vineyards are situated. However, more than half of the appellation's vineyards lie on the plain between the town and the Dordogne River on sandy, alluvial soils with a sprinkling of gravel.
Further diversity is added by a small, complex gravel bed to the north-east of the region on the border with Pomerol. Atypically for St Emilion, this allows Cabernet Franc and, to a lesser extent, Cabernet Sauvignon to prosper and defines the personality of the great wines such as Ch. Cheval Blanc.
In the early 1990s there was an explosion of experimentation and evolution, leading to the rise of the garagistes, producers of deeply-concentrated wines made in very small quantities and offered at high prices. The appellation is also surrounded by four satellite appellations, Montagne, Lussac, Puisseguin and St. Georges, which enjoy a family similarity but not the complexity of the best wines.
St Emilion was first officially classified in 1954, and is the most meritocratic classification system in Bordeaux, as it is regularly amended. The most recent revision of the classification was in 2012
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Description
L’If is a small St Emilion property owned by Jacques Thienpont – best known for Pomerol’s Le Pin. Collines de L’If is the second wine here and 2017 is its first vintage. The nose entices with black plums, cherries and blueberries, with hints of dark chocolate and clove spice behind. The same flavours come through on the palate, supported by harmonious tannins and a long, savoury finish. Decant it for an hour and enjoy with a mushroom or beef wellington.
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