Domaine Matassa
Domaine Matassa
Domaine Matassa is one of those producers that makes you excited about natural wine again. Tom Lubbe took what could've been a forgettable detour, a three month internship in the south of France, and turned it into one of the most respected estates in Roussillon, all built on old Catalan vines that would've been ripped out if he hadn't shown up. What he makes from them somehow manages to be both wild and precise at the same time, skin contact whites with real backbone, reds that are light enough to chill but still full of character. Every bottle feels like it actually came from that specific hillside in Calce rather than off some generic production line, which is honestly the whole point of natural wine and something not every producer actually pulls off.
Tom Lubbe grew up in New Zealand and started making wine in South Africa, at Welgemeend, one of the only estates there using indigenous yeast and lower yields at the time. What was supposed to be a three month internship at Domaine Gauby in the south of France turned into three years, and somewhere in there he met and eventually married Gérard Gauby's daughter, Nathalie. Instead of heading back to South Africa, the couple bought a patch of old Carignan vines, over a hundred years old, up in the hillside village of Calce. Domaine Matassa was born in 2003. The first vintage was actually made in their own living room, before Gérard handed over his old cellar the following year.
Calce, Roussillon, France
These days the estate farms around 14 hectares, most of it clustered right around Calce, worked with a real mix of old Catalan varieties, Carignan, Grenache (mostly the old local strain called Lladoner Pelut), Macabeu, Grenache Gris, Muscat d'Alexandrie, and Muscat de Petits Grains, a lot of it co-planted in the same old blocks rather than sorted neatly into single variety rows. Everything's farmed biodynamically, fermented with native yeast, bottled unfined with little to no added sulfur. Matassa's become one of the names people point to when they talk about what natural wine from the south of France can be, more digestible and precise than the big, heavy reds the region used to be known for.
Matassa VDF River 2025
River is Tom's answer to a warming climate, a lighter, fresher take on Syrah than you'd usually expect out of the south of France. The grapes come from a high altitude site, picked early, foot trodden, given only a handful of days on the skins before resting in big old barrels. What lands in the glass is bright red cherry, a little violet, some Mediterranean herb and black pepper, soft tannin, and just 11% alcohol. Genuinely light on its feet. Good with a slight chill.
Matassa VDF Blanc Rufo 2024
Rufo is one of the newer additions to the lineup, built from Macabeu, half direct pressed and half given a short maceration on the skins. That split gives it more texture and grip than a straight press white would have, without tipping over into full orange wine territory. Straightforward, a little saline, made for the table rather than a special occasion.
Matassa Brutal Orange 2025
This is Matassa's wilder side. Old vine Macabeu, real skin contact time, left mostly alone to do its thing. Expect something closer to a boiled down apricot and citrus compote than a typical white, herbal undertones, and enough tannin to give it real structure. Not a shy wine. Best with something rich enough to meet it halfway, roast chicken, aged cheese, that kind of thing.
Matassa VDF Blanc Cuvee Marguerite 2025
Marguerite blends Muscat of Alexandria, Macabeo, and Viognier, with a short stint of skin contact that pulls it into orange wine territory. The Muscat brings the aromatics, orange blossom, ripe stone fruit, while the skin contact adds a moderate tannic grip underneath. It's turned into one of the more talked about bottlings in the whole range, and it's easy to see why once you've actually had a glass.
