How to choose a Bolgheri wine in Lucca

The question “how to choose a Bolgheri wine” often comes up at the bar, usually shortly after a table has ordered something from the pantry. It’s a sensible question. Bolgheri isn’t a single wine: it’s an area, and within that area you’ll find reds that differ widely in blend, vintage, structure and price.

Our starting point is this: you don’t need to order the best-known bottle. You need to order the one you’re going to enjoy, that evening. If you’re in Lucca for two nights and want a Tuscan red different from Chianti Classico or Brunello, Bolgheri is often the right choice. But first we’ll ask you two questions, not give you an exam.

We’re at Via Calderia 12, in the historic center, a few steps from Piazza San Michele. Our list has almost 200 Italian and French labels, chosen bottle by bottle and updated every week. Tuscany comes first, because it’s what many tables want to drink. Then there are Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux, which say a lot about the rest of our cellar.

How to choose a Bolgheri wine at the table

The first thing to decide is what kind of evening you want. Bolgheri can be direct and easy-drinking, or broad, dense, a wine to sip slowly. It can work with a light board of cured meats or call for the most intense dish on the menu. The difference matters more than the name on the label.

When you tell us you’re looking for a soft Tuscan red, with fruit and a texture that isn’t too austere, we look to a Bolgheri Rosso made to be opened now. It’s the bottle to share without turning dinner into a residents’ meeting. It often has that Mediterranean note many guests recognize right away, but without the drier profile some associate with Sangiovese.

When the table wants a deeper wine instead, with more presence and a bottle that stays in the glass while the main course arrives, we look for a Bolgheri with a different approach or a vintage that already has a few years behind it. That doesn’t automatically mean better. It means different: more substance, more evolution, more room for food.

The key is to tell us what you’ve been drinking so far. If you chose Brunello the night before and want a change of tone, Bolgheri is a natural detour. If you’re after the nerve and freshness of a Chianti Classico, we’ll tell you clearly: you’ll love some Bolgheri wines, while others may feel too full. There’s nothing wrong with sticking with Sangiovese.

Young red or a vintage with a few years on it?

A young wine can be the most precise choice of the evening. It has energy, fruit and an immediate pace. We’re happy to suggest one when the table wants to start with Focaccia y Tomate - focaccia, Campanian tomato, Tuscan olive oil and Maldon salt - and then continue with cured meats and cheeses from the pantry. Not every wine has to wait for a big occasion. Sometimes the big occasion is finding a free table at half past nine.

A more mature vintage changes the pace. Fruit notes leave more room for spice, tobacco, earth and dried herbs. It’s a choice for those who love quieter bottles and for those who come to explore a wine list, not just to order a quick glass. Our selection also includes old Tuscan vintages, when it makes sense to suggest them. We don’t keep them there as decoration.

Vintage, however, shouldn’t be treated as a ranking. A warmer season can give a broader, more generous wine; a cooler vintage can bring tension and lift. It also depends on the producer and how much time the bottle has had to settle. That’s why we prefer to talk about style before scores.

Bolgheri and food: let’s choose the right weight together

With our slow-cooked beef roast, served with chimichurri sauce and its own jus, we look for a Bolgheri with enough structure to stand alongside the meat without overwhelming the dish. The roast is rich, tender, long. A red that’s too light risks disappearing; one that’s too muscular can make everything heavier than it needs to be.

With the sweet-and-sour pork ribs, the game changes. Here you need balance and lift. The sweet-and-sour side doesn’t call for brute force; it calls for a wine that keeps pace. If you’re torn between an important bottle and a more agile one, this is when we steer you toward the second. The wine doesn’t have to beat the dish. It has to let the table keep eating.

For a pantry dinner, on the other hand, we can think more freely. Culatta di Parma, Jamón 100% Ibérico de Bellota, Tuscan pecorino, Jura Comté, Kalamata olives, Gillardeau oysters and caviar don’t all call for the same red. If the table is mixed, a medium-bodied Bolgheri is often the most practical solution. If the table starts with cured meats and cheeses and then orders the roast, we can step up in intensity without changing wine halfway through.

We don’t force Bolgheri where it isn’t needed. Tuscan Vermentino remains a more natural choice if the evening revolves around oysters and caviar. And if you want to compare a Tuscan red with another idea of elegance, we can move to Piedmont, or to France. Our identity is there too: Burgundy, Champagne and a Bordeaux Experience with châteaux from the 1980s onward. But we don’t pretend a French bottle is the answer to every question. In Lucca, most of our tables want Tuscany. And they’re right to want it.

Three questions that help us choose well

We don’t ask for technical knowledge. Simple answers are enough. Do you want a bottle that’s ready, with fruit and rhythm, or a more complex, slower one? Are you having the beef roast or building a dinner of cured meats and cheeses? Do you prefer the precision of Chianti Classico, the depth of Brunello or something rounder?

From there, we do the rest. The list is long, but it isn’t an endurance test. Pier Giulio selects the bottles one by one, and the list changes all the time. This means the right bottle isn’t always the same one, and that’s fine. A cellar should have memory, but also movement.

If there are two of you and you don’t want to commit to a bottle right away, we offer a selection of wines by the glass that changes often. The most useful way to start is to have a glass, order something to eat and work out where you want to go next. For those who really want to take their time choosing, we organize guided tastings by reservation from 20 euros. They’re not school lessons. They’re a direct way to compare wines and figure out what you feel like drinking next.

When Bolgheri isn’t the best choice

We’ll say it plainly: not always. If you’re looking for crisp acidity, drier tannins and a red to go with a light dinner, a Chianti Classico may be a better fit. If you want depth, austerity and an evening built around a great Sangiovese, we look to Brunello di Montalcino. If instead you feel like a Tuscan red outside the best-known appellations, we can talk about our Toscana IGT wines.

Choosing well doesn’t mean choosing the most famous appellation. It means not ending up with a wine different from the one you had in mind. That’s why we prefer a one-minute conversation to a choice made out of habit.

Tomkat is open in the evening, Monday to Saturday, from 18:00 to 23:00. We received the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence in 2025 and 2026, as well as the Star Wine List awards for Best Newcomer 2025 and Best Medium-Sized Wine List 2026. These aren’t numbers meant to impress the table. They’re there to tell you that the bottle we choose together has a reason to be there.

If you’re coming this week and thinking about Bolgheri, come with a simple idea: what you want to eat, what red you feel like drinking, how long you want to stay. We’ll take care of the rest.

Pier Giulio Bendinelli