Description
94 points | The Wine Advocate, Monica Larner
An icon wine of the late 1990s and early 2000s, the Tenuta Luce 2018 delle Vita at various times. To make things even more confusing, the estate introduced a new wine (with, you guessed it, another "light versus vines" inspired moniker) called Lux Vitisfeguard the core identities of its two vinous protagonists. The Sangiovese adds wild rose, cherry and freshness; the Merlot brings on softness and texture. Each actor plays off the other in a flirtatious but ultimately complementary manner. This is a full-bodied Tuscan blend (aged for 24 months in 80% new French barrique) that will definitely give pleasure to that large crowd of Luce enthusiasts out there. Production is exactly 91,734 bottles.
Owned by the Frescobaldi family, this estate has weathered a billion mind-bending name changes over the years, all linked to the concept of light, or "luce" in Italian. My editors and I sat down to try to clean up the database and merge wines from a brand that existed as Luce, Luce delle Vita and Tenuta Luce at various points (with common and understandable misspellings such as Luce della Vita or Luce delle Vite). The word "viti" is "vines" in Italian, and "vita" is life. The top-shelf Tuscan red blend they make has been named Luce or Luce delle Vita at various times. To make things even more confusing, the estate introduced a new wine (with, you guessed it, another "light versus vines" inspired moniker) called Lux Vitis. You'll find that reviewed here. Dealing with the name/branding overlaps has been a game of three-dimensional chess, but we hope we've been able to make sense of it. Big exhale.