Matassa Coume de l'Olla Rouge 2025
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The Land
Most people hear Roussillon and picture something dark and 15 percent. Calce, tucked inland from Perpignan in the Agly Valley, runs colder than that reputation allows: the Tramontane wind comes off the Pyrenees relentlessly, stressing the vines, stalling ripening, and holding alcohol down in a place that on paper should have none of those things. Coume de l'Olla is a single vineyard planted on clay and limestone rather than the schist and black slate that dominate the rest of the Matassa holdings, and the difference shows in the glass as brightness rather than weight. The vines here are around 55 years old. This is the parcel that makes the case for Roussillon as a source of light red wine, not just powerful ones.
The Wine
Grenache Noir, Grenache Gris, and Macabeu, co-fermented rather than blended after the fact, which is why the wine reads as one thing rather than three. Fermentation happens in concrete with a short three-day maceration, then the wine is pressed and racked back into concrete to age. No oak, no fining, no filtration, no added sulfur. Three days on skins is barely any extraction at all, and that is the point: the color is pale, the tannin is minimal, and the fruit stays crunchy. Red currant, pomegranate, blood orange, dried thyme, and white pepper, finishing dry and saline. Serve it at cellar temperature or lightly chilled; it takes a chill better than most reds and gets clumsy warm.
The People
Matassa is the work of Tom Lubbe, a New Zealander raised in South Africa who arrived in Calce for a harvest at Domaine Gauby and never left. He married Nathalie Gauby and started the estate in 2003, making the first vintage in their living room until Gerard Gauby, appalled, gave him the old Gauby cellar in 2004. Twenty hectares now, farmed certified organic across schist, marl, black slate, and black marl. Since 2015 no Matassa wine has received added sulfur at any point. Lubbe reads a book a week and thinks about soil more than technique, which is roughly the ratio the wines reflect.
Food Pairing
Light, chilled, and savory, so treat it like a warm-weather red. Grilled merguez sausage with harissa and flatbread is a natural. So is a charcuterie plate with cornichons and mustard, roast pork loin with fennel and apple, or a mushroom and thyme galette. The low tannin means it will not fight vinegar or heat, and the pomegranate and white pepper notes lean into spiced meat rather than getting run over by it. Twenty minutes in the fridge before you open it.
We ship wine to most states with a $100 minimum order for shipping. We don't ship spirits nor beer.
Weather shipping advisory: Orders placed during times of extreme heat or extreme cold will be held for no charge until more favorable weather returns.
Grenache is a widely planted grape variety that thrives in its Mediterranean home. In Spain, it's known as Garnacha, where it reaches its peak in the Sierra de Gredos as a pure varietal wine, while also being a key blending component in Rioja. France's Southern Rhône, notably Châteauneuf-du-Pape, is another well-known region, where Grenache is often the base of a blended wine. Grenache also finds a home in Sardinia as Cannonau, and it has spread beyond its Mediterranean origins, most famously to Australia's Barossa Valley. The resulting wines are typically light in color, yet they possess a full body and flavor, displaying mature red fruit notes, herbal spices, and often a hint of orange peel, along with soft tannins and moderate acidity. It is an incredibly versatile grape, showing different expressions based on its terroir and the winemaking style employed.
