Axel Prufer grew up in East Germany and got out as soon as he could. A camping holiday in the Languedoc sealed the decision: he settled just north of Beziers in 2003, found a farmhouse in the hamlet of Le Mas Blanc, and began piecing together what would become Le Temps des Cerises. The name, meaning The Time of the Cherries, carries a double meaning in French: it is both a love song and a revolutionary anthem from the Paris Commune. Prufer likes the ambiguity.
The Vineyards
Prufer farms approximately 15 hectares, assembled over two decades, scattered across the hills above Beziers at various altitudes and expositions. The sites are remote, often surrounded by forest, and built on granitic quartz soils that give his wines their distinctive mineral clarity and low natural alcohol. A 2022 expansion added seven hectares in organic conversion. The vineyards hold Cinsault, Carignan, Grenache, Alicante Bouschet, Chardonnay, Clairette, and Viognier, among others. Yields are tiny, sometimes as low as ten hectoliters per hectare.
Farming
Prufer uses no systemic sprays and is converting his newer parcels to organic. His most famous pest management technique involves collecting human hair from the village hairdresser and spreading it around the vineyard perimeter to deter wild boars, which have a strong aversion to the smell of people. It works.
Winemaking and the Wines
Fermentations run on indigenous yeasts in stainless steel, fiberglass, or old barrels with floating lids to allow CO2 to escape while limiting oxygen. No sulfur is added at any stage. Wines are bottled without fining or filtration. The results are light, chillable, joyfully glouglou reds with real depth underneath: La Peur du Rouge, Un Pas de Cote, Avanti Popolo, La Capitulation Ne Paie Pas, A Oili Oili Oila, and Jalava, a Chardonnay-led white that shows how well the granitic soils of the upper Languedoc handle the variety.
