Skein
The story of Domaine Matassa begins in the most unlikely way possible: a first vintage vinified in the living room, in 2003, by a New Zealander raised in South Africa who had no intention of staying in France. Tom Lubbe had arrived in Calce—a village of three hundred souls at the foot of the Pyrenees—for a three-month internship with Gérard Gauby, the legendary pioneer of Roussillon. Gauby invited him to stay for three more harvests. In the meantime, Tom met Nathalie, Gérard's sister, married her, had children, and never returned to South Africa. Gauby, almost as a form of reparation, gave him his old winery in 2004. From then on, Matassa.
Today the estate boasts 20 hectares of vineyards spread between Calce and the surroundings of Estagel, on the territory of Mas Ferriol, nestled in the Mediterranean scrubland at altitudes between 350 and 600 meters. The vines are between 60 and 120 years old, often planted in mixed patterns with different varieties on the same plot—Macabeu, Grenache Gris, Muscat d'Alexandrie, Muscat à petits grains for the whites; Carignan, Lledoner Pelut, Mourvèdre, Grenache Noir for the reds. The soils are schist, marl, and clay: poor, well-drained, forcing deep roots. In the vineyard, no synthetic chemical products are used, biodynamics are practiced, and horses are used where the terrain does not allow access for machinery.
In the cellar, Tom works with a philosophy that has only one direction: to subtract, not to add. The whites have been macerated on their skins since 2008—a rare choice at the time, now recognized as pioneering. The reds are fermented with whole cluster infusion, often in co-fermentation with white grapes. Since 2015, no added sulfites. No filtration, no fining. All wines are released as Vin de France—a voluntary choice, for freedom of blending and expression, without the constraints of appellations. The result is wines of unexpected freshness for Roussillon: they rarely exceed 12% alcohol, have lively acidity, a saline texture, a lightness that is not a given in this sunny region. Tom describes them as "light reds and dark whites"—and it's not a joke, it's a philosophy.
Winemakers like Jurgen Gouws of Intellego and Craig Hawkins of Testalonga cite him as a mentor. Matassa did not invent natural wine, but he defined a precise language for it: freshness, tension, terroir—without rhetoric.
The story of Domaine Matassa begins in the most unlikely way possible: a first vintage vinified in the living room, in 2003, by a New Zealander raised in South Africa who had no intention of staying in France. Tom Lubbe had arrived in Calce—a village of three hundred souls at the foot of the Pyrenees—for a three-month internship with Gérard Gauby, the legendary pioneer of Roussillon. Gauby invited him to stay for three more harvests. In the meantime, Tom met Nathalie, Gérard's sister, married her, had children, and never returned to South Africa. Gauby, almost as a form of reparation, gave him his old winery in 2004. From then on, Matassa.
Today the estate boasts 20 hectares of vineyards spread between Calce and the surroundings of Estagel, on the territory of Mas Ferriol, nestled in the Mediterranean scrubland at altitudes between 350 and 600 meters. The vines are between 60 and 120 years old, often planted in mixed patterns with different varieties on the same plot—Macabeu, Grenache Gris, Muscat d'Alexandrie, Muscat à petits grains for the whites; Carignan, Lledoner Pelut, Mourvèdre, Grenache Noir for the reds. The soils are schist, marl, and clay: poor, well-drained, forcing deep roots. In the vineyard, no synthetic chemical products are used, biodynamics are practiced, and horses are used where the terrain does not allow access for machinery.
In the cellar, Tom works with a philosophy that has only one direction: to subtract, not to add. The whites have been macerated on their skins since 2008—a rare choice at the time, now recognized as pioneering. The reds are fermented with whole cluster infusion, often in co-fermentation with white grapes. Since 2015, no added sulfites. No filtration, no fining. All wines are released as Vin de France—a voluntary choice, for freedom of blending and expression, without the constraints of appellations. The result is wines of unexpected freshness for Roussillon: they rarely exceed 12% alcohol, have lively acidity, a saline texture, a lightness that is not a given in this sunny region. Tom describes them as "light reds and dark whites"—and it's not a joke, it's a philosophy.
Winemakers like Jurgen Gouws of Intellego and Craig Hawkins of Testalonga cite him as a mentor. Matassa did not invent natural wine, but he defined a precise language for it: freshness, tension, terroir—without rhetoric.
