2020 Tenuta Luce Lucente Toscana Tuscany 750 ml

After helping launch Napa into the stratosphere and partnering with Baron Philippe de Rothschild to create Opus One, Robert Mondavi turned his attention toward his family’s native Italy, partnering with the legendary Frescobaldi family to create Luce della Vite.

That partnership has become Italy’s version of Opus One, producing wines that are among the richest and most monumental in the country. Their flagship wine, Luce, has become synonymous with staggering concentration and power, racking up 98- and 97-point scores. 

The Lucente is one of the best deals in Super Tuscans every year—our members call it a “Great Value!” and say it earned “Rave reviews at dinners and as gifts"—and it’s especially good in the absolutely gorgeous 2020 vintage. Made from the same high-elevation vineyards and by the same renowned team as Luce, it’s a lush and powerful wine with a core of silky Merlot with enough Sangiovese to give the wine proper structure and fantastic verve—just like its big brother.

If Luce is a Napa Cabernet drinker’s Super Tuscan, Lucente is its more classically Italian younger brother, defined by litheness and energy married to the estate’s characteristic intensity. The Sangiovese and Merlot grapes hail from some of the highest slopes in Montalcino, bordering on Frescobaldi’s Castelgiocondo, home to some of the area’s finest Brunellos. The two are fermented separately and see 12 months in a mix of new and older wooden barriques, resulting in a less oaky expression than Luce.