Matassa Romanissa 2023
32.75€ (Inc. VAT bot. 75 cl.) / Spain
Features
Type of wine
Pairings
Style
Occasions
Winery
Size
Country
Region
Appellation
Alcohol
12.0%
Grapes
Serving
Between 14ºC and 16ºC
Winemaking
Fermented with indigenous yeasts, whole grapes without destemming and skin soaking for 3 weeks. Aged for 10 months in 500 litre oak barrels.
Description
On the rugged slopes of Calce, in the heart of French Roussillon, where the land is a symphony of schist, red clay and limestone, Tom Lubbe - the restless soul behind Matassa -decided to write a new narrative for southern wines. Born in New Zealand and trained in South Africa, this wandering winemaker landed in Calce almost by accident, for a brief internship with Gérard Gauby, but fate had other plans: he met love and stayed. What followed was a miniature revolution.
Lubbe understood that this dry, windswept place, marked by a raw minerality, had much more to say than the stereotypical power and booze of the French south. Instead of taming nature, he decided to amplify its wild whisper. Matassa Romanissa is born of this vision - a blend of Garnacha (predominantly Gris and Negra) and Cariñena from old vines grown organically and biodynamically, no irrigation, no make-up.
Here, the vines survive in lean, stony soils, caressed by the tramontana, a wind that dries, cools and polishes. The result: grapes that ripen slowly, retaining a vibrant acidity and a personality deeply rooted in the soil in which they were born.
Winemaking
At Matassa Romanissa everything begins with a selective manual harvest, when the fruit still retains that electric tension that Tom pursues like a musician searching for the perfect note. The grapes, not completely destemmed, ferment with indigenous yeasts in neutral tanks (fibreglass or cement), without temperature control - letting the grapes and the place dictate the rhythm.
Absolutely nothing is added: no sulphites, no corrections, no interventions. What is bottled is pure expression of site and vintage. The maceration is usually short, only about 3 weeks, to avoid extracting Dureza, and the wine is aged for about 10 months in old 500-litre barrels, which envelop it without marking it. No new wood, nothing to obscure the natural minerality and fluidity of the wine.
Before bottling, it undergoes only a slight gravity decanting. No fining, no filtering. What you see, what you drink, is as it was born. Radically honest.
Taste
The first contact with Matassa Romanissa is not a friendly welcome: it is a pinch on the tongue, a sour wink, a scream of hot stone. The nose opens slowly, like a wildflower in the sun, with notes of raw red raspberries, wild strawberries and that unmistakable aroma of peach skin touched by the south wind. But there is no sweetness here: everything is subtle, dry, insinuated.
As the wine breathes, earthy, grassy Mediterranean notes emerge -dried thyme, sage, a touch of resin. The palate is a dance between the ethereal and the earthy: light-bodied but with a sharp, almost tannic structure that glides like torn silk. The acidity marks the passage, with tension, with surgical precision.
There is a slight bitterness on the finish, like almond skin or grapefruit zest, that invites the next sip. It is a wine that is not easily explained, that resists being tamed, but speaks with a truth that is felt in the chest. A wine for those who seek emotion rather than perfection. For those who know that beauty lies in the unfinished.
Shipping to Peninsular Spain
FREE shipping on orders over 200.00€ or for 18 bottles or more in 6-bottle multiples (24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54 and 60 bottles)Estimated transit time: 2-3 working days.
| Bottles | Price | Over 200.00€ |
|---|---|---|
| 1-6 | 6.90€ | 0.00€ (-6.90€) |
| 7-12 | 6.90€ | 0.00€ (-6.90€) |
| 13-17 | 12.90€ | 0.00€ (-12.90€) |
| 18 | Free | 0.00€ (Free) |
| 19-23 | 15.90€ | 0.00€ (-15.90€) |
| 24 | Free | 0.00€ (Free) |
| 25-29 | 19.80€ | 0.00€ (-19.80€) |
| 30 | Free | 0.00€ (Free) |
| 31-35 | 22.90€ | 0.00€ (-22.90€) |
| 36 | Free | 0.00€ (Free) |
| 37-41 | 26.90€ | 0.00€ (-26.90€) |
| 42 | Free | 0.00€ (Free) |
| 43-47 | 28.90€ | 0.00€ (-28.90€) |
| 48 | Free | 0.00€ (Free) |
| 49-53 | 33.90€ | 0.00€ (-33.90€) |
| 54 | Free | 0.00€ (Free) |
| 55-59 | 35.90€ | 0.00€ (-35.90€) |
| 60 | Free | 0.00€ (Free) |
| VAT included | ||
