2021 Tenuta Luce Luce Toscana 750 ml

When it comes to Super Tuscan icons, Chianti Classico has Tignanello, Bolgheri has Sassicaia, and Montalcino—the home of Brunello—has Luce.

Tenuta Luce is Italy’s version of Opus One, founded by Robert Mondavi and the Frescobaldi clan to showcase the terroir of Montalcino using Brunello-clone Sangiovese plus Merlot. It’s a collectible that will thrill lovers of rich Napa Cabernet and top-class Brunello di Montalcino alike. 

James Suckling awarded the 2021 96 points, the same score as the Tignanello, which goes for twice as much. It’s clear that Lamberto Frescobaldi’s significant investment, including the addition of a new winery, has elevated this project to must-have icon status, as Opus One is in the Napa Valley.

Just as Baron Philippe de Rothschild found California’s quintessential producer in Mondavi for Opus One, Mondavi found the perfect partner for his Italian project in the Frescobaldi family, whose Tuscan roots go back to the 1300s. Frescobaldi family patriarch Vittorio saw a kindred spirit in the iconoclastic Mondavi—whose parents had moved from Le Marche to America in the early part of the 20th century—and so Tenuta Luce was born. 

The estate is located in the hills of Montalcino, and Luce is the top wine from their vineyards—fittingly, since they can play up its Napa-Tuscan heritage. While they do make great Brunello at the estate, Luce is a Super Tuscan par excellence: It’s a blend of 50% Merlot and 50% Sangiovese, made in the fashion of Fontodi’s Flaccianello della Pieve or Antinori’s Tignanello.

You can certainly spend hundreds more for other top-flight Super Tuscans, and we welcome you to. But don’t ever overlook this bottle—it’s one of Tuscany’s great buys.