The Matassa 2007 Cuvee Marguerite - half each Muscat and Viognier, and kept for nearly a year in older barrels - smells of orange zest and acacia; offers bright citrus, pungent sage, and bitterness of apricot kernel on the palate that follow into a long, intense finish accompanied by salt and crushed stone. While this already striking wine lacks the flavor interplay or textural allure of the 2006, I have come to realize (from my one very long session tasting at this address) that it simply needs another year in bottle. The only way you are going to experience that is to sock some away yourself, because for obvious economic reasons, these Matassa whites wines simply have to be sold before their time. South African-born and -trained Tom Lubbe arrived to do a stint at Gerard Gauby and fell in love with Roussillon - and with his wife (and Gauby's daughter) Nathalie. In 2001, the couple established their decidedly low-tech domaine. (Sam Harrop - a New Zealand-trained oenological consultant and M.W. well-known for his work on the Loire - is the third, largely hands-off partner in this venture.) Lubbe's biodynamic methods and experimental spirit are in the Gauby mode, but the vinous results are utterly unique, with more than two-thirds of production consisting of distinctively delicious whites. Virtually all of Lubbe's wines stay below 13% alcohol. They also keep quite low pHs, thanks, Lubbe avers, to his care and rejuvenation of the soil. He says he took it as a great compliment when he was falsely accused of having acidified his 2003s! (Incidentally, Lubbe has begun a joint project with Domaine de Majas in cool, high-elevation Caudies de Fenouilledes under the label -Three Trees.- The three wines - designed to sell at a very modest price - looked promising early-on though very bright and, I thought, in need of settling down. Hopefully they will arrive in the U.S. market in time to be reviewed in our August -values- issue.)Importer: Ibanez Pleven Offerings, New York, NY; tel. (917) 613 1793.