Languedoc

One of the most well respected vignerons naturels in Languedoc, Rémi's philosophy is simple: Le Temps Fait Tout, "Time Does It All". He is a quiet and thoughtful man, who makes wines that reflect his personality. Also a member of S.A.I.N.S., he is commited to not adding or removing anything from the raw grapes. Rémi has 6ha near the town of Pezenas in Herault, where he grows Grenache, Syrah, Carignan, Clairette, Ugni Blanc and Terret.

Enigmatic and wild. Words for the person as well as the wines Pierre Rousse makes in Western Languedoc! With his 5 ha of vines, Pierre plants seemingly standard varieties Merlot, Pinot Noir, Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, although the results are anything but standard. Pierre also produces a cidre 'Babiole' from local apple varieties. Truly bonkers juice from a truly bonkers man.

British born Jo Jefferies moved out to Languedoc to help out his dad with some construction work many moons ago. Naturally, he fell in love and decided to stay, later establishing Domaine Bories-Jefferies from vines that used to belong to his in-laws. The vineyard lies on volcanic soils which adds freshness and crazy-good minerality in the finished wines. Inspired by his friends Bernard Bellahsen and Rémi Pujol, Jo describes his wines as home made. He says if you were making a cake at home would you add additives, chemicals? Of course not.

Just North-East of Beziers, Domaine Julien Peyras is making some truly fantastic wines. As a member of S.A.I.N.S (the zero everything crew), he is comitted to making wines with minimal intervention as his nieghbour and mentor Bernard Bellahsen has done for decades. Farming 8ha of hillside terraced vineyard on clay-limestone, Julien farms Languedoc-Rousillon favourites Cinsault, Carignan, Grenache, Clairette, Syrah, Grenache blanc and Roussane all from 40+ year old vines.

Vigneron extraordinaire Axel Prüfer was born in East Germany, but as a young man he moved to Languedoc to start making wine. Axel met Eric Pfifferling early on which helped set his course for the kind of wine he wanted to make. In 2003 he established Domaine Les Temps de Cerises which refers to an old Parisian song from the Revolution. Axel's vineyards are buzzing with life: insects, herbs, flowers, weeds. Wild boar roam in the nearby forests and Axel uses human hair collected from the local hairdressers to distract them from eating all his grapes. Yields are super low.

Bernard Bellahsen believes in capturing the essence of a vintage each time he makes a wine. As the ring leader in organic and biodynamic practices in the Languedoc (certified Biodynamic in the 80's), Bernard has not only won the respect of his peers, he has sparked an interest in other aspiring vignerons for making real wines in Languedoc. When Bernard isn't making wine, you can find him looking after his bees and makes and selling his homemade bread at the local market at weekends. Today Bernard also produce Gin destilled on wine.