{"product_id":"matassa-coume-de-lolla-rouge-2025","title":"Matassa Coume de l'Olla Rouge 2025","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Land\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe Wine\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eGrenache 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe People\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMatassa 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFood Pairing\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eLight, 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.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Natural","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51201253179615,"sku":null,"price":37.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0439\/7436\/1248\/files\/P8150103_4a82242d-1476-4e14-9726-791c7af72548.jpg?v=1786842622","url":"https:\/\/denverwinemerchant.com\/products\/matassa-coume-de-lolla-rouge-2025","provider":"Denver Wine Merchant","version":"1.0","type":"link"}