One of the winemakers we were keen to meet at the Salon des Vins de Loire (and we’d been meaning to but dear Covid put paid to that), was Thomas Frissant, young vigneron in the village of Mosnes just 15 minutes from us.
Thomas started in 2019 with 14 hectares of vines which he put straight into organic conversion. His first years have been tricky with him bringing in practically nothing in in 2021 (like many people) but his wines are very good indeed so we were happy to meet up and then pay a visit to his domaine a couple of weeks ago.
He has three ranges: Les Tout en Canon (easy drinking wines), Les lieu dits (wines vinified from a single plot) and Les Terroirs (wines that comes his best plots).
After tasting one or two of the 2022’s from tank and barrel, we walked up the hill to have a look at his vineyards. Perched high and facing the Loire serious amounts of flint covering the top soil. These vineyards are north facing and that’s probably an advantage with the hot summers we’ve had in recent years.
We particularly like his light fruity 2022 Gamay (you know we love a light red). Attractive redcurrant fruit, soft and rich on the palate this would pair brilliantly with spicy food (and we cook a lot of spicy food).
We also enjoyed La Touche, 100% Côt or Malbec fermented in stainless steel. This wine is in the Touraine-Amboise appellation and has lovely forest fruit, nice balance and manageable tannins. Great with sausages, lamb or a casserole.
In whites, our favourite was Les Perrières. Old vine Chenin that’s had three months on its fine lees to give it some roundness and structure. Lovely and citric on the palate, expressive and balanced. A lovely wine.
We’ll be showing his wines this year at our own tastings and hope you like them too.
1 Chemin Neuf
37530 Mosnes (near Amboise)
