We are a team of artisanal grape growers and winemakers which have created Thomas&Chansault. This is a collaboration between the Thomas family (David, Irene and Charlie) and Vincent Chansault, who have worked together for over 15 years.
The Thomas family have been winemakers since the early 1980s as former owners of Chateau Bauduc, in Bordeaux. After graduating, Vincent Chansault has made wine in key regions of France and has also worked internationally notably in South Africa with leading wine maker Mark Kent of Boekenhoutskloof (Chocolate Block and Porcupine Ridge).
The terroir and the vines
All of our parcels of land are scattered up to 300m in the foothills of the Montagne Noire whose cool summer winds have a positive effect on the maturing of our grapes. The ground is a mixture of compact limestone and limestone marl.
Of our 17 hectares of land, six are currently producing Grenache, Syrah, Carginan, Cinsault and Mouvèdre with vines ranging from 20 to 70 years of age. The vines are either bush vines or Cordon de Royat and are planted on rock strewn limestone.
Our vineyards are certified organic and produce a low yield. We have a further three hectares of newly planted vines and the remaining hectares are filled with olive and fruit trees and the wild plants of the garrigue. This encourages biodiversity and offers soil protection.
The appellation
AOP Minervois La Livinière was the first premier cru to be created in Languedoc, in 1999. It covers 6 villages, 40 wineries and 350 hectares scattered within the garrigue of the foothills of the MassifCentral. The terroir is a stony mix of limestone, pebble sand sandstone and the region has a particularly dry climate with large temperature variations between day and night.
The principal grape varieties which make up 60% of production in the appellation are Syrah, Mouvèdre, Grenache with other varieties including, Cinsault, Picpquepoul, Carignan, Terret and Aspiran.
The region
Languedoc-Roussillon is a coastal region in southern France that stretches from Provence to the Pyrenees on the border with Spain. It is very well known for its wine growing and produces a third of all of France’s wines. We make our wine in the small village of La Livinière, north east of the city of Carcassonne. It is unique in having as many as 20 wineries, many of whom are very small artisanal producers.
Our Wines
Our wines, Les Parcelles, are created from our parcellaire vineyards. At the very essence of our wines is the concept that we create individual wines that reflect the best combination of grapes for any particular year from across the 15 different unique parcelles. This means each year our wines will always be unique and original. Our production is limited because of our desire to make only the best wine each year. Currently we have two wines available our 2016 and 2017. Each with different combination from within our vineyards. The 2016 is a combination of Grenache and Syrah aged in oak barrels and the 2017 a combination of Grenache and Cinsault aged in a combination of foudres, sandstone jar and clay amphora.
Our labels reflect our vineyards and the coloured area the parcels that are used in the wines each vintage.
Purchasing our unique wines
Contact us
Thomas&Chansault strive to produce the best wine each year which means with have very limited annual production. Our wines can only be purchased direct via the vineyard. By contacting us directly we can let you know which wines are available to purchase, this can be done through Contact Us and we promise to get back to you on availability.
