The Wine
“I’m not sure I’ve ever tasted better Mourvèdre”
Never ones to wish to distract from the estate’s La Pèira wines, we nonetheless found ourselves in 2007 harvesting Mourvèdre of excellent quality that, when it came to blending, could not find its place alongside the Syrah and Grenache in the La Pèira blend, so it was bottled alone.
This practice continued, and for some years, we harvested the small plot of Mourvèdre that makes up the entirety of this wine, Matissat.
The wine is grown a few steps away from where it is vinified—on the same plot as the Syrah and Grenache of La Pèira on the Bois de Pauliau (and occasionally on the adjacent Belle Fiolle/Bellefeuille plot).
The Bois de Pauliau is a bit of an anomaly in our region of the south of France. It has been an AOC since 1948 as the most northerly zone of the white Clairette—just over half a century. It received its second AOC for red wines with the Terrasses du Larzac designation (Bettane and Desseauve’s French appellation of the year in 2011) in 2014.
Just nearby, still in the Clairette AOC, France’s oldest winery (10 AD) was discovered (DecanissJuly 2007). Clairette itself has been produced at least since 77-79 AD when Pliny the Elder named the whites of Baeterrae (Béziers), along with the resinous wines of Vienne, as the sole two wines of exception from what is now France.
Harvested in the October mists—a time of chilled mornings, cold nights, and vine leaves turning to autumnal ruby, blood-red, and rust—there is something special about both this time of year and this grape variety.
Late-ripening, tannic, and with its own earthy, inimitable character, Mourvèdre also has an extraordinary ability to age and to unfold, showing more with time. Andrew Jefford’s description of the cépage is interesting: “It reminds me of midnight: dark, quiet, impenetrable, enigmatic… but at its best, full of strange magic.”
« Légendaire »
The Matissat 2010 was ranked among the top 100 wines of France by Robert Lafont Presse Le classement des meilleurs vins de France édition 2014 and received the distinction of being named the best red wine of France with the words : « Légendaire » / “Legendary”
The wine received a perfect (100/100) score. Bertrand Rougier writing for the publication stated:
“In just a few years, La Pèira has established itself as one of the most groundbreaking properties…Created in 2004, the property now ranks alongside – and in some eyes even above – the best of the best in Bordeaux and Burgundy.”
The report featured some of France finest producers: Château Pichon-Longueville Comtesse (Pauillac), Château Montrose (Saint-Estèphe), Château Léoville-Barton (Saint-Julien), Château Pape-Clément (Pessac-Léognan), Château de Beaucastel (Châteauneuf-du-Pape), Auguste Clape (Cornas), Guigal (La Landonne – Côte-Rôtie), and Chapoutier (Côte-Rôtie, Hermitage, and Châteauneuf-du-Pape).
And from the South of France: Domaine de la Grange des Peres (N° 15), Domaine Peyre Rose (N° 30), Mas Jullien (N° 34), Domaine Gauby’s Muntada (N° 54), and Mas de Daumas Gassac (blanc N° 34).
“Up With The Greatest Expressions Of This Variety In France”
Growing areas such as Bandol come to mind when thinking of Mourvèdre, or certain wines such as Beaucastel’s well-known ‘Hommage’.
Yet these noted examples are mostly blends. The Beaucastel ‘Hommage’ is generally 60% Mourvèdre, and top Bandol estates such as Domain Tempier advise against bottling pure Mourvèdre.
For this reason, we held of releasing the first 2007 vintage for many years.
Until it was clear that, like a pure Nebbiolo grown in Barolo or Barbaresco, or a Pinot Noir grown in Burgundy, here was a pure Mourvèdre that was complete, complex, and valid on its own singular terms.
This belief that this place, somewhat uniquely in France, has produced a exception complex and balanced pure Mourvèdre seemed not to be unfounded:
On tasting the initial 2007 vintage Andrew Jefford wrote:
“I’m not sure I’ve ever tasted better Mourvèdre.”
“Up with the greatest expressions of this variety in France” – Jeb Dunnuck
“What Mourvèdre it is! Harvested only in late October, that component of this wine displayed the variety’s archetypal chocolate, bay laurel, and raw meat” – Wine Advocate
The vineyard is tiny, and less than a thousand bottles are made annually.
“This is a very special wine made on a very special estate”
In 2012, Jancis Robinson published an article of her vertical tasting what she called this“ particularly fine Languedoc wine” – the “increasingly celebrated Matissat”.
The summation:
“Make no mistake about it, this is a very special wine made on a very special estate.”
Her notes and all reviews can be found in the presentation of the 2020 vintage.
In Brief
Wine: Matissat
Classification: Grown in AOC Terrasses du Larzac
Sector: Sainte-Brigitte (Jonquieres/Saint-André de Sangonis)
Vineyard area: 0.824 hectares (two acres) [Bois de Pauliau 0.424 hectares Belle Fiolle/Bellefeuille 0.4 hectares]
Vineyards/Lieux-dits: Bois de Pauliau, Bellefeuille
Soil: Gravelly Quarternary Alluvial deposits (Pliocene Age) These deposits were derived principally from the mountains of Late Jurassic (about 150 million years old) limestone to the north. The gravels along with sand, silt, and clay, were laid down in stream channels in what are known as alluvial fans (cones).
Average annual production: 550-100 cases.
Other wines: La Pèira 200-500 cases, La Pèira Blanc 80 cases