How to choose Champagne for dinner in Lucca

A bottle of Champagne at dinner is not a brief interlude before the red wine. It may be the right bottle for the entire evening, or the wrong choice made out of habit. So when people ask us how to choose Champagne for dinner, we start with what you have ordered, how many people you are, and what you want to drink afterward. Not with the most expensive category on the list.

At Tomkat, at Via Calderia 12, just a short walk from Piazza San Michele, Champagne shares the stage with Brunello di Montalcino, Bolgheri, Barolo, and great Sangiovese. Tuscany remains the first glass for many tables. But France, Burgundy, Bordeaux, and Champagne are a distinct part of our identity: nearly 200 Italian and French labels, chosen one bottle at a time and updated every week.

The useful question is not, “What is the best Champagne?” It is, “What kind of dinner do we have ahead of us?”

How to choose Champagne for dinner without choosing by the label

In Lucca, it is common to arrive for dinner after a day in the city, with little time and a few very clear ideas: a Tuscan bottle, something to share, a dinner that does not require ceremony. That is perfectly fine. But if there are different flavors at the table, or if you want to start and stay with a wine capable of following the food, Champagne may make more sense than a still white or a red opened too early.

We look at the dish first. Our Focaccia y Tomate, with focaccia, Campanian tomato, Tuscan olive oil, and Maldon salt, calls for tension and freshness, not volume. A dry, direct Champagne can accompany it well, leaving the tomato in its rightful place. It is a dish to share with your hands, not an exam.

With the pantry, the reasoning changes little, but becomes more interesting. Culatta di Parma, Jamón 100% Ibérico de Bellota, Italian and French cheeses, Gillardeau oysters, caviar: these are not dishes that all call for the same bottle, and there is no need to pretend they do. For delicate cured meats, oysters, and caviar, we look for Champagne with drive and precision. With Comté, we can choose something livelier. With a well-aged pecorino, on the other hand, it is often worth pausing to consider whether you really want to continue with sparkling wine or take another direction.

The point is simple: Champagne is not meant to make dinner more formal. When it works, it is meant to make what arrives on the plate more distinct.

When to stay with Champagne and when to switch to Tuscany

There is a very practical dividing line. If you order a light dinner from the pantry—Focaccia y Tomate, oysters, or caviar—we can build the entire evening around a bottle of Champagne. Two people who want to eat well without having a long dinner often find the most straightforward solution here.

If the slow-cooked beef roast arrives instead, with chimichurri and beef jus, we will not tell you that Champagne is mandatory down to the last bite. It can accompany the beginning, but the roast has depth, meat, and a long cooking time. At that point, a Sangiovese, a Brunello di Montalcino, or a bottle of Bolgheri may become the more natural choice.

Our sweet & sour Pork Ribs also deserve an extra question. The sweet-and-sour element does not call only for power; it calls for balance. Sometimes a sparkling wine with greater presence can stand up to the dish; at other times, a Tuscan red with fruit and restraint works better. It depends on the table and on how much you want the wine to dominate, which is not usually what we recommend.

We do not turn a bottle into a rule. If there are four of you and two want Brunello while two want Champagne, there is no reason to force a diplomatic peace in the ice bucket. You can start with a glass, order from the pantry, and then choose two different bottles. We have a selection of wines by the glass that changes often, precisely because a table should not have to vote on what to drink.

A short dinner, one full bottle

For a couple, a full bottle makes sense when the menu remains coherent. Focaccia y Tomate, a selection from the pantry, and a final cheese course make a progression that can stay with Champagne. It is also a useful choice if one of you does not want a substantial red but is not looking for a still white.

For a dinner with the slow-cooked beef roast, we can do the opposite: begin with Champagne by the glass, then open a Tuscan wine. The list includes lesser-known Tuscan reds that many guests discover here for the first time, as well as Brunello, Bolgheri, and older Tuscan vintages. These are not numbers placed there to impress. They are bottles that can change the direction of a dinner without making it complicated.

Do not ask for “a Champagne”: tell us about your evening

At the counter or at the table, three pieces of information help us more than a generic request. Tell us whether you are already hungry or only want something from the pantry. Tell us whether you are thinking of moving on to meat after dinner. And tell us whether you are looking for a well-known name or would prefer a bottle from a small producer.

Our Champagne selection ranges from grandes maisons and major estates to small vignerons. We do not treat these two categories as rival teams. A maison may be the most fitting choice for a large table that wants a recognizable and reliable bottle. A smaller producer may be perfect for someone returning to Lucca who already knows the style they are looking for and wants to move beyond the usual choice.

Price matters, naturally. There is no point ordering an important bottle if dinner will be only a quick taste before going out. Nor does it make sense to choose the cheapest option simply because Champagne seems like a special-occasion region. Tell us your budget range and we will tell you what makes sense to drink that evening. Without performing the wine list.

For those who feel like staying a little longer, we organize guided tastings bookable from €20. They are not a classroom lesson and do not replace dinner. They are a practical way to focus on a region, a style, or a comparison between bottles, and then decide what to order with the food.

Champagne, Burgundy, and Bordeaux: the French side of the list

France is not a decorative corner of our cellar. Alongside Champagne, we work with Burgundy and Bordeaux with a depth that appeals to those who travel to drink, not only to see Lucca’s walls. The Bordeaux Experience includes château from the 1980s onward. In Burgundy, we seek out producers and vintages with care, without filling the list with names included merely for show.

This also matters when you choose Champagne. Those who love more taut, defined wines may look for a bottle that opens the dinner and then move on to a Burgundy. Those who want a more classic evening can begin with Champagne and finish with a great Tuscan red. Those in town for just one night can simply choose what they enjoy drinking. The list should serve you, not the other way around.

For guests from Lucca, the Piana, and Versilia, the reason to return on a weekday is often simpler: a frequently refreshed selection of wines by the glass, changing bottles, a pantry that makes a light dinner possible, and a list that never stands still. For those here for two nights, it is a way to drink Tuscany on the first evening and devote the second to Champagne, Burgundy, or Bordeaux without leaving the city center.

We are open in the evening, Monday through Saturday, from 6:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. You can also book at the last minute, if there is space, through OpenTable or by calling +39 376 203 5395. In 2025 we received the Star Wine List Best Newcomer and the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence; in 2026 came Star Wine List Best Medium-Sized Wine List and another Best of Award of Excellence. We take them as a good reason to keep choosing better, not as a reason to make you order more than necessary.

Come with an idea, or without one. If you tell us what you want to eat and how you want to spend the evening, we will find the right bottle. Even when the answer, to Champagne’s great relief, is a Brunello.

Pier Giulio Bendinelli