It’s always a small miracle when we see Matassa arrive. These are wines with a devoted following, made in tiny quantities, and somehow—against all odds—they make their way from the mountain vineyards of Calce to our shelves in San Francisco.

Tom Lubbe didn’t set out to become a benchmark of the natural wine movement in Southern France. He was a New Zealander working in South Africa when a chance internship at Domaine Gauby turned into marriage, a family, and ultimately, a winery of his own. Since founding Matassa in 2003, Tom has helped transform the Roussillon from a region known for heavy, extracted reds into one of Europe’s most quietly radical zones of terroir-driven, low-intervention winemaking.

From the start, Matassa has been about old vines, traditional Catalan varieties (that’s right, this part of France has Catalan roots….), and mountain vineyards high above the Mediterranean. Farming is organic, often biodynamic. Winemaking is as gentle as it gets: short macerations, neutral barrels, no new oak, and either minimal or no sulfur. The wines are alive with minerality, texture, and energy—always unmistakably southern, yet nothing like the big, polished wines that once defined the region.

The 2023s are vibrant, lifted, and full of life. Whether it’s the crunchy, herbal Rouge, the saline tension of the Blanc, or the heady aromatics of the Coume de l’Olla bottlings, each wine is a reminder of how expressive and joyful natural wine can be when it’s guided by experience and grown in the right place. And the return of Tommy Ferriol, one of the most limited and deeply mineral reds in the lineup, is the icing on the cake.

Matassa’s wines are as ephemeral as they are compelling. They won’t be here long.

Matassa VdF Blanc Coume de l'Olla 2023 - $32.99

Matassa VdF Rouge Coume de l'Olla 2023 - $32.99

Matassa VdF Rouge Tommy Ferriol 2023 - $38.99

Matassa VdF Rouge 2023 - $49.99

Matassa VdF Blanc 2023 - $49.99