Luce, born in 1993 from the partnership between Napa Valley legend Robert Mondavi and the Frescobaldi family, is a perfect combination of balance, power and elegance
Montalcino, March 14, 2022 – Tenuta Luce, located in the heart of Montalcino, is pleased to announce the release of the new vintage of its flagship Super Tuscan wine, Luce 2019. Produced since 1993 with the same name of the estate, Luce 2019 will arrive in the United States market in the coming months. Since its founding, the primary mission of Luce – a wine estate particularly dear to the Frescobaldi family – has been to craft a wine that is the fullest possible expression of Montalcino, that also maintains its own distinctive hallmarks and personality.
Luce, the first wine in Montalcino made from a blend of Sangiovese and Merlot, is Tenuta Luce’s iconic wine, a result of the brilliant idea of marrying Sangiovese’s elegant structure to the classic, rounded, seductive texture of Merlot.
Luce is produced from the best vineyards of the estate, which consists of 88 planted hectares (217 acres) across 249 unplanted hectares (615 acres). The vineyards are surrounded by woods and olive groves in the southwest quadrant of Montalcino, an uncontaminated microcosm settled since ancient times yet still rich in biodiversity, in the heart of the Val d’Orcia Natural Park. Marchese Lamberto Frescobaldi, representing the 30th generation of the Frescobaldi family, directs the Tenuta, deeply committed to its unique mission and to its uncompromising respect for the environment.
“The 2019 growing season started a bit late compared to 2018, due largely to less sun in the spring,” explained Tenuta Luce winemaker Alessandro Marini. “However, tasting the two vintages side by side, they are remarkably similar, marked by a complex, elegant bouquet of aromas and notably crisp acidities. We provided additional help to fruit development in 2019 by introducing some new agronomical practices, such as leaf-thinning, which encouraged air circulation among the clusters, improving their overall health. We also introduced the use of an optical scanner, which helped in selecting only the finest berries, essential for achieving the quality we require.”
Vintage after vintage, Luce’s final blend mirrors and respects the characteristics of the grapes of each vintage, without ever detracting from the core concept of the balance between Sangiovese and Merlot, which is the distinguishing genius of this wine.
The resulting wine must always embody the winemaking philosophy and the fundamental values that make Tenuta Luce stand out, with wines that are the most natural expressions of their territory of origin and perfectly express the dynamic relationship between grape variety and terroir. This means reducing human intervention to a minimum, respecting nature, and protecting it so that it can speak unhindered through the wine.
2019 GROWING SEASON AND VINTAGE PROFILE
The 2019 growing season was overall later than average; the harvest of Merlot and Sangiovese started on September 20th and 29th, respectively, but, despite the delay, both grape varieties displayed superb balance.
Winter was cold, but relatively dry and sunny, while spring brought low temperatures and significant rainfall which built up the groundwater reserves. Rainfall and reduced sunlight, particularly in May, led to a slight, 10-day delay in the vine growth cycle. Flowering, in the first week of June, was consistent and the summer was hot, though without excessive temperatures. Some beneficial rainfall between late July and early August encouraged vigor and efficiency in the canopies.
September brought mild temperature conditions and some rain, which encouraged steady ripening. The berries ultimately reached an ideal level of tannin ripeness, and exhibited plentiful, crisp aromatic precursors.
Luce 2019 therefore presents a firm structure and a proportional balance with a powerful yet graceful expression, and great aging potential.
LUCE 2019 TASTING NOTES
Luce 2019 appears in the glass with an intense ruby-red color. Its bouquet releases pronounced notes of violets and rose petals, flanked by wild raspberry and smooth spices.
The palate is marked by an elegant balance, with a creamy mouthfeel bolstered by silky, well-integrated tannins. A near-endless finish rises on a subtle crescendo of spicy sensations.
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
The Merlot and Sangiovese grapes were picked in late September and the must was fermented for 12 days at 28oC in dedicated, tulip-shaped concrete fermenters, followed by a 22-day maceration on the skins. The wine was aged for a minimum of 24 months in barriques, 80% new and 20% 2nd passage. Approximately 89,000 bottles were produced.
About Tenuta Luce
Tenuta Luce della Vite lies southwest of the town of Montalcino, in the heart of the Val d’Orcia Natural Park, a rural landscape sensitively re-designed by man in the pre-Renaissance era and declared by UNESCO in 2004 a World Heritage Site. This extraordinary corner of earth, historically renowned for its world-class wines, hosts the 249 hectares of the Luce wine estate, set among woods and olive groves, with 88 hectares of vineyards: a lightly inhabited, near-pristine environment rich in biodiversity. Its beneficial sunlight and well-ventilated conditions, gift of its unique exposure, and its diversity of soils at different elevations all combine to make Tenuta Luce a truly privileged place, where the harmony of all these components is jealousy respected and protected. That respect is reflected in the winemaking as well, where each process of production is performed with meticulous care, in order to preserve the harmony achieved in the vineyard. The fruits of this enlightened philosophy and unique terroir are Tenuta Luce wines Luce, Lucente, Luce Brunello, and Lux Vitis, the culmination of an ambitious project begun in the early 1990s aimed at obtaining the fullest expression of the Montalcino territory yet with an utterly distinctive individual style. www.lucedellavite.com
