Luce in Montalcino

A highly successful countercultural project, born in Montalcino 30 years ago, involving a blend of Merlot and Sangiovese, on the Frescobaldi estate.

The Luce project was born in the early 1990s from an intuition-provocation of Vittorio Frescobaldi and Robert Mondavi, two powers in the Italian and American wine worlds. The provocation was to go beyond the Brunello specification and enhance the Montalcino terroir through Merlot in an equal blend with Sangiovese with a very high use of barrique even on the Sangiovese. 

The first vintage was 1993 and was immediately a resounding success especially abroad while enthusiasm in Italy was moderate. Not making Brunello in Montalcino was seen as an exploitation of the territory with little sense, if not merely commercial thanks to the "power" of the brands involved. The wine was also designed for international markets with rather obvious and sweet woods, jammy notes and a decidedly muscular flavor shoulder. 

A change of pace occurred in 2005 when the Luce project totally re-entered the Frescobaldi sphere thanks to Lamberto, Vittorio's son. The Luce wine is still in high spirits but the music changes as does the style, which becomes more sober and elegant, less shrieking and even more relevant to the territory of its birth. 

It must be specified that all the Luce produced show after a few years of aging an incredible tendency to enhance the Sangiovese and the Montalcino terroir a sign that the idea was right and is now proven: Montalcino marks its wines far beyond their composition. 

Over the years the range of wines has expanded first with Lucente, a fresher and more youthful version of Luce, with Brunello, of which the winery owns 11 hectares out of the total 88, and with the latest but extremely interesting Cabernet Sauvignon Lux Vitis. 

In the last visit we verified the closure of the works of the new cellar, beautiful modern and very efficient thanks to great technology, two aging departments one for Luce with barriques and one for Brunello with 30 hl barrels. Also interesting is the hospitality with the open kitchen and a very impressive balcony over the vineyards.

For the occasion we tasted Luce in the 2013, 2016, 2019 version. Three excellent vintages.

Luce della Vite - Frescobaldi
Toscana Rosso Luce 2013 

93/100 - € 110

50% Merlot, 50% Sangiovese. Matura in barrique 85% nuove 24 mesi. Rubino classico senza cedimenti. Olfatto intenso e nitido con sentori di tabacco, sottobosco e macchia mediterranea. Un tocco fruttato di piccoli frutti rossi e ciliegie. Trama gustativa fitta, con una bellissima trama tannica e una buona freschezza che donano bevibilità, eleganza e un finale saporito ed intenso.

97.000 bottiglie prodotte.

Luce della Vite - Frescobaldi
Toscana Rosso Luce 2016 

95/100 - € 110

50% Merlot, 50% Sangiovese. Matura in barrique 85% nuove per 24 mesi. Rubino intenso. Olfatto ampio, persistente ancora sul frutto di ciliegia con note di lampone e ribes, leggermente affumicato con toni appena balsamici e un inizio di sottobosco. Trama gustativa intensa con ottimi equilibri, tannini levigati, una freschezza inaspettata e un finale rigoroso, ampio e intenso.

96.800 bottiglie prodotte.

Luce della Vite - Frescobaldi
Toscana Rosso Luce 2019

97/100 - € 110,00

Merlot e Sangiovese in proporzioni variabili. Matura in barrique, 80% nuove, per circa 2 anni. Rubino scuro ma brillante. Intenso, nitido e molto persistente al naso; ciliegia, marasca, piccoli frutti neri, ribes e mora. Leggermente affumicato con spezie gialle e balsamico. Bocca fitta, scorrevole, con tannini di gran classe ben amalgamati nella trama succosa, intensa ma elegante. Finale saporito, ampio, equilibrato e persistente. La migliore versione di sempre.

89.000 bottiglie prodotte.

Related Products