Matassa

Matassa is an iconoclastic estate that became an icon. Tom Lubbe was born in New Zealand, grew up in South Africa, and learned winemaking from Louise Hofmeyr at Welgemeend in the Swartland - the gospel of indigenous yeasts and low yields, delivered with no room for argument. Curious about Mediterranean grapes, he arrived in Calce in 1999 for what was meant to be a three-month stage at Domaine Gauby. He stayed for three vintages at Gauby and another two at Le Soula. In 2000 he made an influential wine under The Observatory label in Cape Town - one of the wines later credited as a catalyst for what became the Swartland revolution.

The real story, though, is simpler. Tom fell in love with Nathalie, Gérard Gauby's sister. Matassa was founded in 2003 - in their living room, for lack of a cellar. Gérard, feeling partly responsible, handed over the old Gauby cellar the following year. Sam Harrop MW was the third founding partner (he later left the project). Cherchez la femme.

About twenty hectares in the Val d'Agly today, plus two hectares of granite at 500-600 metres in the Fenouillèdes, plus eight hectares of rare black schist at Mas Ferriol added in 2019. Vine ages run from 60 to 130 years - the 130-year-old Lladonner Pelut at Romanissa, planted on terrain steep enough to punish your knees, yields 15 hl/ha. The grape portfolio is the Catalan heritage: Grenache Gris, Macabeu, Muscat d'Alexandrie, Muscat à Petits Grains, Carignan, Mourvèdre, Lladonner Pelut - often co-planted as field blends, because that's how Catalans farmed before the French redrew the maps.

Certified organic (Ecocert), with biodynamic preparations used selectively. Tom's deeper obsession is cover crops - he credits them with dropping his alcohol from 13.5% in 2005 to 10.5% by 2018. Native yeasts throughout. Whole-cluster infusion for reds rather than long maceration. Skin contact for whites since Alexandria 2008 - the first Matassa macerated white. Oak is old and used for aeration, not structure. No sulphur additions since the 2015 vintage. Unfiltered, unfined. All bottled as Vin de France - declassified from AOC by choice, because the regulations are a cage Tom prefers to step out of.

The signature is moderate alcohol, restrained tannin, vibrant acidity, mineral freshness. Juicy without being light; serious without being stiff. Matassa has also become a kind of apprenticeship - a generation of young natural-wine makers have passed through Calce on their way to making their own names.