Lucca wine review: the bottles at Tomkat

If you’re looking for a Lucca wine review because you’re in town tonight, let’s start with something simple: you don’t need to cross all of Tuscany in a single evening. Just choose a well-made bottle, put it on the table with something to eat and let Lucca do the rest. At Tomkat, at Via Calderia 12, a short walk from Piazza San Michele, that’s exactly how we work.

We’re a wine bar with a kitchen, open in the evening from Monday to Saturday, from 18:00 to 23:00. Our wine list has almost 200 Italian and French labels, chosen bottle by bottle and updated every week. The numbers aren’t there to impress. They’re there so that a table that wants a Brunello finds a Brunello with character, and anyone looking for a French bottle doesn’t have to settle for the usual shortcut.

Most guests choose Tuscany. That’s how it should be. We’re in Lucca, and a dinner here can start with a Sangiovese and end very well.

Lucca wine review: Tuscany first

When people ask us what to drink in Lucca, the answer isn’t a geography lesson. It’s a question: what kind of evening do you want? For a straightforward dinner, the answer is often Chianti Classico. It has the right pace to sit alongside focaccia, cured meats, cheeses and the dishes from the kitchen. If the table wants a deeper bottle, Brunello di Montalcino comes into play, no ceremony needed.

Brunello is one of the wines most requested by visitors from abroad. We understand why: for many, it’s the Tuscan bottle they expected to find. Here, though, we don’t treat it as a souvenir. We look at the vintage, the producer, the moment in the meal and how many people are at the table. A Brunello can be perfect with our slow-cooked beef roast, served with chimichurri sauce and its own jus. It can be too much for someone who has only ordered from the pantry and wants to talk until late. It depends.

Bolgheri is another frequent choice, especially for those who want a broader, more immediate Tuscan red. Sangiovese, Bolgheri, Brunello: three different paths, none of them compulsory. We also have Vermentino and other Tuscan whites for those who want to keep the table lighter. They deserve attention, especially when dinner starts with Focaccia y Tomate: focaccia, Campanian tomato, Tuscan olive oil and Maldon salt. You share it with your hands. No need to complicate it.

We also love old Tuscan vintages. Not because a date on the label automatically makes a wine interesting, but because certain bottles, when well kept, change the rhythm of the dinner. For anyone spending one or two nights in town, it’s a concrete way to drink something they’d hardly find by the glass back home.

Wines by the glass, a list that changes

Not everyone wants to choose a bottle. Not everyone has to. We always offer a selection of wines by the glass that changes often. It’s the solution for two people dining together with two different ideas, for those who want to start with a white and then move on to a red, or for those who come back to Lucca and don’t want to find the same chalkboard.

For those who live here, this may be the most useful part of our Lucca wine review. A long wine list is lovely to read, but a well-chosen glass makes it easier to go out on a weeknight. You can start with a glass of white, order something from the pantry and decide later. Or choose a Tuscan red by the glass and pair it with the beef roast. You don’t need to book a solemn evening to drink a serious bottle.

The pantry is designed with this in mind too. 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. It isn’t an endless menu. It’s food that goes well with wine and lets you have dinner without turning it into a marathon.

Our sweet-and-sour pork ribs, on the other hand, have a character all their own. With a red that’s too austere, they can turn into a pointless argument. In these cases we suggest a bottle that doesn’t try to win against the dish. The point isn’t to show how much we know. The point is to finish the glass and want another.

France is not a decorative extra

Tuscany is what many tables drink. France is an important part of our identity. Pier Giulio personally selects every bottle, and the list includes Burgundy, Champagne and Bordeaux, from the best-known names to small producers who work with great precision.

Burgundy and Champagne are for those who arrive with a specific request, but also for those who want a change of perspective after a day of Tuscan red. We never insist: if you want to drink Sangiovese in Tuscany, we’re on your side. But we like having the option to open a Burgundy when the table really wants one, or to choose Champagne because that evening it’s simply the right choice.

Then there’s the Bordeaux Experience, with châteaux from the 1980s onward. It’s a section for those who travel for wine and for those who don’t want to face a list built only to impress. Old vintages need attention and context. Some are perfect for a long dinner among friends, others only make sense if you already know what you’re looking for. We’ll tell you plainly, without theatrics.

This part of the list has earned us two awards we’re pleased with, without changing the way we work: Star Wine List Best Newcomer 2025 and Best Medium-Sized Wine List 2026. We also received the Wine Spectator Best of Award of Excellence in 2025 and 2026. The next day, though, we still have to open the bottles again, update the list and welcome whoever walks in at 8:30 p.m. asking for a good glass. That’s the real work.

A tasting if you have time to stay

Guided tastings can be booked from 20 euros. They’re not designed to fill an afternoon or to tick a box on an itinerary. They’re for those who want to give wine a little more attention while in Lucca, with a selection built around what they’d like to drink.

We can start with Tuscany, work through Brunello, Bolgheri and Sangiovese, or move on to France and old vintages. The choice depends on time, the number of people and the table’s curiosity. For private groups we also organize events by reservation, always with wine at the center and no rigid formulas.

If you’re looking for a Lucca wine review to decide where to go tonight, come with a preference, not a ready-made answer. A Chianti Classico, a Brunello, a Vermentino from the Tuscan hills or a French bottle chosen at leisure: we’ll work out the rest together. You can book on OpenTable or call +39 376 203 5395. We’re at Via Calderia 12. Your bottle is probably already on the list.

Pier Giulio Bendinelli