Lucente
⏳ Drinking Window
2023 - 2032
🍽️ Food & Wine Pairings
Slow-cooked wild boar ragù with pappardelle, rosemary-rubbed roasted lamb chops, and aged Pecorino Toscano cheese.
✨ Technical Specifications
Lucente is the highly acclaimed second wine of Tenuta Luce, the visionary estate in Montalcino born in the early 1990s from a historic partnership between Vittorio Frescobaldi and Robert Mondavi. The estate's emblem—a brilliant sun with twelve radiating flames—is inspired by the high altar of Florence's Santo Spirito church, built on land gifted by the Frescobaldi family during the Renaissance. Crafted as a contemporary interpretation of the Montalcino terroir, Lucente is a masterfully balanced blend of Merlot and Sangiovese. The grapes are sourced from the same high-altitude vineyards as the flagship Luce, where clay and schist-rich soils yield intense concentration. The wine undergoes careful fermentation before aging for approximately 12 months in French oak barriques. This process tempers the vibrant acidity of the Sangiovese and rounds out the lush, black-fruit character of the Merlot, resulting in a wine of remarkable silkiness, structure, and immediate accessibility.
🍾 About the Producer
Tracing its viticultural origins to 1308, Marchesi Frescobaldi is an iconic Florentine noble dynasty that has shaped Tuscan winemaking across thirty generations. Spanning celebrated historical holdings—including Castello Nipozzano in Chianti Rùfina, Castello Pomino, Tenuta Castiglioni, CastelGiocondo in Montalcino, and the social viticulture initiative on the penal island of Gorgona—the family stewards diverse terroirs ranging from galestro-rich hills to cool-climate Apennine elevations. Frescobaldi practices certified sustainable viticulture under Tuscany's AgriQualità protocol, tailoring canopy management and soil stewardship to site-specific conditions. In the cellar, their philosophy honors regional typicity while embracing technical precision, vinifying with calibrated temperature control and aging across fine-grained oak barriques and traditional casks. The portfolio showcases an expansive spectrum of expressions: high-elevation Chardonnay and Pinot Nero in the pioneering Pomino Benefizio Riserva and Leonia Brut sparkling wines, mineral-driven Ansonica-Vermentino field blends from Gorgona, alongside age-worthy, structured Sangiovese icons such as Nipozzano Riserva and CastelGiocondo Brunello di Montalcino.