Born in East Germany, Axel Prüfer has been making wine in Languedoc since 2003, in the Vallée de l'Orb in Bédarieux. Travelling through southern France in his campervan in the late 90s, Axel encountered Eric Pfifferling, at the time manager of the Cave d'Estézargues, and Jean-François Nicq of Domaine de l'Anglore. It was harvesting with these two that confirmed Axel’s desire to become a winemaker, and a few years later he founded Le Temps des Cerises. The domaine started out as a few small plots, which have since evolved into 12 hectares of vines, scattered in the hills above Axel’s cellar and surrounded by forest. Wild boar are prevalent here and Axel has been known to experiment with the use of human hair, collected from local hairdressers, to strew around the vineyard boundaries as a deterrent.
At his cellar in the small hamlet of Le Mas Blanc, Axel produces delicate, fresh wines; no easy task in a hot climate. Avanti Popolo ’23 is one of these, a blend of Grenache, Syrah, Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Alicante, grown on the calcareous soils of vineyards that are in the process of organic conversion. The Alicante was direct pressed, with the other varieties left on the skins for 10 days. Ripe cherry on the palate with balanced tannins, and well matched with spicy salsiccia and fennel. Great lightly chilled and also as it shifts towards room temperature at the table, this is a very stable wine that will live happily in the fridge to enjoy over a couple of evenings.