Cuvée Marguerite

Named after the grandmother of Tom Lubbe's wife Nathalie - per Tom, one of the last people in the area to speak Catalan as a first language. The heart of the cuvée is the Muscat de Max parcel, an old monastery planting on limestone with vines past ninety years, a field blend of Muscats with scraps of Malvasia - and per Tom, the Tramontane takes about 30% of the estate's crop in an average year. The 2022 came off three parcels; the import sticker gives the split as 34% Macabeu, 33% Muscat à petits grains, 33% Muscat d'Alexandrie.

Farming is certified organic with occasional biodynamic treatments, and no Matassa wine has seen added sulfur since 2015 - this bottle's sticker reads 10 mg/l total, all naturally occurring. Whole clusters macerate and co-ferment in concrete, then the wine rests on its lees in 2,500 l foudres; bottled unfined and unfiltered (one retail sheet describes an oak-vat variant for adjacent vintages - the vintage-specific listings say concrete and foudre).

2022 in Roussillon was the record-drought year: winter rains, then barely 25 mm from June to August under a heatwave running to mid-September. Tiny, healthy crop. 11%, 0.4 g/l sugar per the sticker.