Matassa
- country
- France
- region
- Roussillon
- vineyard area
- 14 ha
- Floor
- Slate, granite, limestone marl
- Grape varieties
- Grenache, Carignan, Mourvèdre, Muscat d'Alexandrie, Muscat Blanc à Petit Grains, Macabeu
- Management
- Biodynamic
Tom Lubbe is one of the icons of the natural wine movement in southern France. His wines are full of life and energy, wild, untamed, true and demanding. Tom – born in New Zealand and raised on the Cape – already attracted attention with The Observatory in the Swartland. After an internship with Gérard Gauby in Calce, Tom stayed with him for three years and married Gérard's sister Nathalie. The start of owning a winery in 2001 was the acquisition of Clos Matassa, an ancient Carignan parcel in the high hinterland of Roussillon. In 2003, Nathalie and Tom founded Domaine Matassa with old vineyards in Calce and Fénouillèdes.
Matassa grows traditional Catalan grape varieties because Roussillon borders Spain in the southwest. The vines, some of which are ancient, are in a mixed set. Two things make Tom's wines so unique. In the vineyards he relies on green manure and permanent vegetation to revitalize the soil and vines and reduce potential alcohol and pH values. In the cellar, where he has banned sulfites and destemmers, this leads to healthy fermentation processes. This is how his wines are created in the most natural way and develop their own unique expression. Revolutionary.
