Colline Lucchesi wine guide for an evening in Lucca

Colline Lucchesi is not a wine to seek out out of duty. It is a good answer to a more practical question: what are we drinking tonight in Lucca, before choosing yet another Brunello? That is where we begin this Colline Lucchesi wine guide. With a table, an opened bottle, and a dish that does not call for too much discussion.

At Tomkat, at Via Calderia 12, just steps from Piazza San Michele, Tuscany is the first chapter of the wine list. France comes next, and it is a serious part of our identity. But people who come to Lucca for one or two nights often want a Tuscan bottle. That makes sense. Sangiovese, Brunello di Montalcino, Bolgheri, Vermentino, and older Tuscan vintages are the bottles that most often end up on our tables.

Colline Lucchesi deserves to be better known, especially when you are looking for a local wine that is not a souvenir with a cork. An honest disclaimer: it is not on our wine list at the moment. This guide is meant to help you find your bearings, and to show you what we suggest in its place.

Colline Lucchesi wine guide: where to start

The hills around Lucca have a different scale from Tuscany's better-known wine regions. Here, the wine comes from vineyards close to the city, between the plain and the hills visible just outside the walls. There is no need to turn it into a geography lesson: it is enough to know that it is a sensible choice when you want to drink locally without mentally leaving the dinner.

The appellation mainly includes Sangiovese-based reds and whites in which Vermentino can play a useful role. We do not look for a fixed formula, because every bottle has a story of its own. Some are more immediate, while others call for a dish and a few more minutes. The question we ask at the counter is simple: are you in the mood for white or red, and are you really hungry or not?

If you have just spent the afternoon within the city walls and sit down to start the evening, a Tuscan white can work well with our sourdough focaccia. It is toasted focaccia, organic Cilento tomato, Tuscan oil, and Maldon salt. You share it with your hands, without ceremony. With a Vermentino, the result is direct: freshness, savoriness, good oil, and tomato. Nothing else needs to be added.

With reds, it depends on how much you want to eat. A Tuscan Sangiovese can accompany cured meats and cheeses from the pantry, from Culatta di Parma to Jamón 100% Ibérico de Bellota, from Tuscan pecorino to Jura Comté. If you choose the slow-cooked beef roast, with chimichurri sauce and a tangy beef jus, we can shift the conversation toward a deeper Tuscan red. A lighter Sangiovese remains an option, but Brunello or Bolgheri may be the more fitting choice. Fortunately, there is no mandatory answer.

Local wine does not have to do everything on its own

The temptation is to order exclusively local because you are in Lucca. That is understandable, but it is not a rule we impose. A successful dinner can begin with a glass of white and continue with a bottle from another Tuscan region. It can also work the other way around: a great red at the table, followed by a white for someone who arrived later and wants to eat lightly.

Our list includes almost 200 labels, mostly Italian and French, selected bottle by bottle and updated often. The numbers are not meant to impress. They are there to tell you that we do not have just one ready-made answer. We have, for example, a strong presence of Tuscany and Piedmont, including older vintages. And we have Burgundy, Champagne, and Bordeaux, from historic names to small producers, with a Bordeaux Experience that begins in the 1980s.

This means that we do not put a wine on the list just to fill a local category: that is why, at the moment, Colline Lucchesi is not on it. Every bottle has to stand up to comparison and have a reason to sit alongside a Barolo, a Brunello, or a Bordeaux with a few decades behind it.

When to choose a glass

We pour a selection of wines by the glass that changes often. For anyone in Lucca for just one evening, it is the simplest way to try a Tuscan wine and leave room for another wine during dinner. For those who live between Lucca, the plain, and Versilia, it is also a good reason to return on a weekday: the by-the-glass selection does not stay still for long.

A glass makes sense if you want to compare two different ideas of Tuscany without opening two bottles. A white with the focaccia, followed by a Sangiovese with the beef roast, for example. Or a Tuscan red with the pantry selection and a French glass at the end of the evening. It is not an exam. It is dinner.

If, on the other hand, there are four of you and you have chosen cured meats, cheeses, sweet-and-sour pork chops, and a more substantial dish, a bottle gives the table more continuity. In that case, we will tell you what is open, what is ready to drink, and what works well with what you have ordered. The answer may be a young Tuscan wine. It may be an older Tuscan wine. It may be French. The right bottle does not need a passport.

Colline Lucchesi, Brunello, or Bolgheri?

These are three different choices, not three steps on the same scale. Colline Lucchesi is the choice for anyone who wants to stay close to Lucca and drink a wine that speaks of the landscape just outside the city. Brunello di Montalcino usually brings more structure and depth, and it is one of the requests we receive most often. Bolgheri, on the other hand, can be the right path when you are looking for a broader, more decisive red.

The point is not to establish which one is “better.” It depends on the table, the number of people, and how much time you have. If you booked late and want a simple dinner, a simple Tuscan red with the pantry selection may be more than enough. If the evening is a special occasion or you feel like opening a great Tuscan bottle, we have that too.

For international guests, the value of Colline Lucchesi is often precisely this: these are wines they are unlikely to encounter again with the same ease. Brunello and Bolgheri can be found on many important lists. The wine from the hills around Lucca has a more specific context. You drink it in Lucca, and the next day you can still see where its landscape comes from.

A small table, a wide choice

Tomkat is a wine bar with a kitchen, not a ceremonial dining room. The menu is short, and the pantry makes it possible to put together a light dinner without ordering a full tasting menu. There are also Gillardeau oysters and caviar, if the evening takes a different direction from what was planned. It happens.

That is why we keep Tuscany and France together. Most of our guests choose Tuscan wine, and we are happy to start there. But Burgundy, Champagne, and Bordeaux explain the more personal side of the cellar, the part that brought us the Best Newcomer award from Star Wine List in 2025 and Best Medium-Sized Wine List in 2026. Wine Spectator awarded us the Best of Award of Excellence in 2025 and 2026. Good. Then you still have to choose what to drink with dinner.

If you want to understand the list without losing your evening

You can book a guided tasting starting at 20 euros. It is useful if you want to compare different Tuscan expressions, or if you are curious about the French part of the list but want to keep your feet in Lucca. We build it around what interests you and the time you have, not around a script.

We are open in the evening, Monday through Saturday, from 18:00 to 23:00. For a last-minute reservation, you can use OpenTable or call +39 376 203 5395. If you are passing through Piazza San Michele, Via Calderia is nearby. If you are looking for a wine from the area, just ask: we will tell you honestly what we have that comes closest to what you are looking for, without making a drama of it.

A guide is useful until you sit down. After that, what matters is the table, what you ordered, and the bottle you feel like finishing.

Pier Giulio Bendinelli