The purity and complexity of fruit on the nose are really exceptional with blackberries, cloves, nutmeg and stones. Flowers, too! Full-bodied, yet bright and reserved with everything compacted in the center palate. Acidity is delicious. A superb wine. Give it time to open and show everything, but it’s so wonderful now. Try in 2022.

(JL 93-94 points) Licorice, truffle, smoke and tobacco with fully ripened red and black fruits, there is a real purity to the produce and a sensuality to the tannins that was very, very pleasing. This wine was produced with a blend of 91% Merlot and 9% Cabernet Franc and reached 14% alcohol.The wine will be aged in 50% new, French oak barrels. This is a wine to watch.

The 2014 l'If has a pretty bouquet, quite intense with hints of licorice infusing the bright and vivid black cherry and blueberry fruit. With time, there is an intriguing melted tar scent. The palate is medium-bodied with quite firm tannin. This l'If seems to have tightened up since I tasted it from barrel, yet it retains impressive focus and energy, long and tender in the mouth with that licorice touch returning on the finish. Excellent, but give this three or four years in bottle. - Neal Martin

The 2014 L’If has a dense, sultry nose at first, touches of salted liquorice infusing the black, almost tarry fruit. The palate is medium-bodied with sweet but firm tannin, a core of ripe, almost sorbet-fresh fruit, orange rind tincturing the finish. I find this actually improves in the glass, developing more sappiness with time although I would have liked more persistency on the aftertaste. Tasted blind at the annual Southwold tasting. -- Neal Martin

Ripe and fleshy, with a broad feel to the plum sauce and steeped raspberry fruit flavors, backed by hints of ganache and smoldering tobacco. A light loamy edge on the finish marries with the vibrant fruit. Best from 2018 through 2026. 500 cases made. — JM