Chateau Lucia St. Emilion Bordeaux, Complete Guide

Learn everything about Lucia St. Emilion with wine tasting notes, wine, and food pairing tips, best vintages, a history of the property, and information on the vineyards and winemaking. If you want to read about other important, Bordeaux Chateaux: Links to all Bordeaux Wine Producer Profiles

Lucia History, Overview

The owner of Lucia, Michel Bortolussi, got his start in the Bordeaux wine business by selling equipment needed to make wine to all the top producers and winemakers in Bordeaux.

But his strongest customer base was the numerous chateaux located in the Saint Emilion appellation. Michel Bortolussi felt if so many of his customers could produce great wine, so could he. One of his top clients was the famous wine consultant, Stephane Derenoncourt. That relationship was the start of Chateau Lucia.

Before Bortolussi and Stephane Derenoncourt teamed up to create Chateau Lucia, the wine was formally sold under the name of Chateau Lucie before Michel Bortolussi changed the name to Lucia. The first vintage for Lucia was made in 2001. In 2012, Chateau Lucia was sold to Enzo Ide, a Belgian businessman.

Enzo Ide has retained the same technical team for their Right Bank vineyards and with the winemaking. Enzo Ide also owns another vineyard, Chateau La Rousselle in the Fronsac appellation.

Lucia Vineyards, Terroir, Grapes, Winemaking

The 4.3 hectare St. Emilion vineyard of Chateau Lucia is planted to 90% Merlot and 10% Cabernet franc. At Lucia, they have some of the oldest vines in Bordeaux. In fact, some of the vines date all the way back to 1901.

They also have 2 other sections of the vineyard with vines that are on average 30 years of age.

The younger vines are situated close to Chateau Monbousquet. Those vines are planted in more of the sandy terroir with some clay in the soils. Overall, the vineyard has a terroir of clay and limestone soils. The vines are planted to a vine density of 5,500 vines per hectare.

There is a lot of labor-intensive work that takes place at Chateau Lucia. To produce the wine of Chateau Lucia, after the berries are harvested by hand, the fruit is sorted twice before fermentation. The grapes are whole berry fermented in small open-top, oak tanks that range in size from 30 to 50 hectoliters.

Everything in the small cellars is moved by gravity. Malolactic fermentation takes place in French oak barrels. The wine is aged on its lees in an average of 60% new, French oak barrels for between 12 to 18 months, depending on the character and quality of the vintage.

The best vintages of Chateau Lucia are: 2023, 2022, 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2010, 2009 and 2005.

The production of Lucia is small, as close to 1,250 cases of wine are produced here in every vintage.

When to Drink Lucia, Anticipated Maturity, Decanting Time

Lucia needs some time before it can be enjoyed. Young vintages can be decanted for an average of 1 hour or more. This allows the wine to soften and open its perfume. Older vintages might need very little decanting, just enough to remove the sediment.

Lucia is usually better with at least 4-5 years of bottle age. Of course, that can vary slightly, depending on the vintage character. Lucia offers its best drinking and should reach peak maturity between 4-15 years of age after the vintage.

Serving Lucia with Wine, Food, Pairing Tips

Lucia is best served at 15.5 degrees Celsius, 60 degrees Fahrenheit. The cool, almost cellar temperature gives the wine more freshness and lift.

Lucia is best paired with all types of classic meat dishes, veal, pork, beef, lamb, duck, game, roast chicken, roasted, braised, and grilled dishes. Lucia is also good when matched with Asian dishes, hearty fish courses like tuna, mushrooms, and pasta.

Lucia is a modern-styled, forward, opulent, Bordeaux wine that is ripe, rich, and filled with licorice, black raspberries, and chocolate. It’s a wine that is a lot of fun to taste and it drinks well early.