How to choose an Italian wine for dinner in Lucca

Two people arrive, look at the wine list, and ask the right question: how to choose an Italian wine without spending twenty minutes comparing vintages, appellations, and names that are difficult to pronounce? The answer is not a lesson. It is understanding what kind of evening you want, what you have ordered, and how much you feel like lingering at the table.

At Tomkat, at Via Calderia 12, just a short walk from Piazza San Michele, we almost always start with Tuscany. It is what our guests drink most, and it makes sense: you are in Lucca, perhaps for two nights, and looking for a wine that says where you are without putting on a show. Then, if the conversation is going well, we can open a path toward Piedmont, Burgundy, Champagne, or Bordeaux. Our cellar holds almost 200 Italian and French labels, chosen bottle by bottle and updated every week. These are not numbers added simply to impress.

How to choose an Italian wine when you are in Lucca

The first choice is not between red and white. It is between a bottle we already know and one that can become a small memory of the evening here. Those looking for a recognizable Tuscan wine often start with Chianti Classico, Brunello di Montalcino, or Bolgheri. Those who want something less familiar can ask about bottles from small Tuscan producers: less obvious, often difficult to find outside the region, and especially fitting when you are here.

You do not need to arrive with a name in mind. Just tell us three things: whether you want something light or more full-bodied, whether you are ordering from the kitchen or the pantry, and whether you are interested in a bottle or a glass. From there, we narrow the field. It is more useful than reciting a list of grape varieties like a password.

Tuscany is not just one thing. Sangiovese can be taut and direct, or deeper, with some years behind it. A Brunello can be the right wine for someone who wants a bottle to follow slowly throughout dinner. A Bolgheri can be a broader, softer choice, often suited to those coming from international reds and looking for a natural transition toward the Tuscan coast. Vermentino, meanwhile, solves many evenings when you want to begin with freshness without turning the first glass into a technical exercise.

If you order the beef roast

Our beef roast is slow-cooked and arrives with chimichurri sauce and a tangy beef jus. Here, we do not recommend a light red simply because it is the wine of the moment. You need a bottle with presence, but also enough acidity to keep the dish moving.

A Brunello di Montalcino is a natural choice, especially if you want to build dinner around a Tuscan red. Sangiovese has the right pace to follow the meat, the jus, and the deeper side of the dish without covering it up. If there are four of you and the roast is at the center of the meal, a bottle with a few years behind it can make much more sense than a young, noisy one.

Barolo can also enter the conversation. It is not Tuscany, of course, but it is a good detour for those who enjoy more vertical wines and want to step off the most predictable path. We do not suggest it on principle. We suggest it when it works at the table.

If you start with the pantry

The pantry can be a light dinner or the beginning of a long one. There are cured meats ranging from Culatta di Parma to Jamón 100% Ibérico de Bellota, Italian and French cheeses from Tuscan pecorino to Jura Comté, Gillardeau oysters, and caviar. Here, the wine can change direction more easily.

With cured meats and cheeses, a Tuscan Sangiovese with good tension is often the simplest answer. It requires no explanation and does not ask too much of the palate. If the table focuses on oysters or caviar, we look first to white wines and then, if needed, to France. A Vermentino can be very precise. For those who want a more celebratory glass, Champagne has its place, with no need to invent an occasion.

With more mature cheeses, however, there is no automatic answer. It depends on the cheese, how much you order, and how much you want to drink afterward. Sometimes a red with some development works better than a bottle chosen out of habit. That is why it helps to speak with us for two minutes before ordering.

If you share Focaccia y Tomate or Pork Ribs sweet & sour

Focaccia y Tomate is focaccia, Campanian tomato, Tuscan oil, and Maldon salt. You eat it with your hands, and it does not call for a complicated bottle. Vermentino is a direct choice, especially at the beginning of the evening. A local Tuscan white can also be the more interesting answer if you are looking for something less obvious.

Pork Ribs sweet & sour, on the other hand, call for a wine that does not stiffen up in the face of the dish’s sweet-and-sour character. Here, we often consider a red that is not too extracted or a bottle with some development. Saying “I want an important wine” does not help much. Saying “I want the ribs to remain the star” helps a great deal.

Bottle or glass: the choice changes the evening

We have a selection of wines by the glass that changes often. It is the most practical way to taste different styles without committing the whole table to the same bottle. For those in Lucca for just one night, it may be the smartest choice: a Tuscan glass to begin, then perhaps another wine with the beef roast or the cheeses. There is no prize for absolute consistency.

A bottle is still the right format when there are two of you and you want to dine along a continuous thread, or when you are in a group and already know that a Tuscan red is what you are looking for. In that case, we do not look only at the name of the appellation. We consider the vintage, the producer’s style, and where the wine is in its development. A young bottle may be perfect. An older vintage may make the evening different. It depends on the table, not on a ranking.

For those returning from Lucca, the Piana, or Versilia, the wines by the glass are also a good reason not to drink the same way every time. The selection changes often, and sometimes we offer wines by the glass that have a few years behind them. Not to play the rarity game. To let you drink an interesting bottle without having to order the whole thing on an ordinary Tuesday.

Tuscany first, France when you feel like opening up the table

Our cellar’s identity also runs through France. Burgundy, Champagne, and Bordeaux are not a decorative corner of the list. We have a Bordeaux Experience with château from the 1980s onward, as well as Burgundy from major domaines and small producers. It is a part of the selection that interests collectors and those who travel for a cellar, but it does not take space away from Tuscany.

In fact, it often makes Tuscany easier to understand. After a Sangiovese or a Brunello, a Burgundy can offer a very concrete comparison, not a theoretical one. After a bottle of Bolgheri, a mature Bordeaux can speak a familiar language, but with a different rhythm. These are choices to make if the table has time and curiosity. They are not obligatory stops.

In 2025, we received the Star Wine List Best Newcomer and the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence. In 2026, the Star Wine List Best Medium-Sized Wine List and another Best of Award of Excellence followed. We see them as a sign that the list works. But the point remains simpler: finding the right wine for what you have in front of you.

When to ask for a guided tasting

If you want to understand a region, a grape variety, or the relationship between Italy and France more fully, we organize guided tastings that can be booked from €20. They are useful when wine is the center of the evening, not a detail beside dinner. We can also work on private events, always starting with a concrete question: what do you want to drink, and with whom?

We are open Monday through Saturday, from 18:00 to 23:00. For those in town for a few days, booking a table prevents choosing the wine from becoming a race. For those who return often, it is worth asking what has changed by the glass and in the cellar.

Come with an idea, even a vague one: Brunello, Bolgheri, a local white, an older vintage, or simply an appetite. We will take care of the rest together, one bottle at a time.

Pier Giulio Bendinelli