Wine History of Jura

Key eras

The Chartreux plant the Montaigu slope

Domaine Pignier's cellar at Montaigu is still called the Cellier des Chartreux, and the estate's own account says Carthusian monks were cultivating vines on these slopes in the 13th century. The vaulted cellar under the house is the one the monks dug, and the family has worked above it since the Revolution.

Burgundian clippings reach the Jura

Chardonnay and Pinot Noir clippings were carried into the region from Burgundy during the Middle Ages, joining Savagnin, Poulsard and Trousseau, which the Jura had already. Chardonnay now accounts for roughly 43 percent of plantings and Savagnin about 23 percent, so the imported grape and the native one still divide the vineyard between them.

Macvin, a mistelle from the 14th century

Macvin has been made in the Jura since the fourteenth century: marc eau-de-vie is added to unfermented must at one litre for every two of must, which stops the fermentation and leaves the sugar in place. Growers across the vineyard still bottle it, and it waited until 1991 for an appellation of its own.

The Biou first appears in the Arbois record

The earliest mentions of the Biou d'Arbois are documented references from 1665 and 1666. Growers appointed as gardes-fruits made the offering and presented the bunch before the statues of the saints. The date has always fallen with the feast of Saint Just, the patron of the parish.

Church vineyards sold as national property

The Pignier family bought the Chartreux holding at Montaigu in 1794, when it was sold as national property after the Revolution. The seventh generation took over in 1991 and the eighth joined in 2022. It is one of the clearest lines you can follow in the Jura from a monastic vineyard to a working family estate.

The Societe de Viticulture d'Arbois takes over the Biou

With the creation of the Societe de Viticulture d'Arbois in 1858, responsibility for the Biou passed gradually from the parish to the growers' association. The same body still runs the procession, and since 1922 a crown of grapes has been made alongside the Biou itself.

Twenty thousand hectares under vine

The Jura carried some 20,000 hectares of vine in the 19th century, against a little over 2,000 today. Montholier alone worked close to 100 hectares in 1870 and has almost none now. The scale of that fall is the single fact that explains most of what the modern vineyard looks like.

Phylloxera arrives at Beaufort, then Arbois

Phylloxera reached Beaufort in 1879 and Arbois in 1895, and destroyed the vineyard completely in under fifteen years. The Fruitiere Vinicole d'Arbois was founded in the aftermath, in 1906, by thirty-one Arbois growers looking for a collective answer to ruined vines and poor wine.

A village invents its own Biou

The Biou of Montholier was instituted in 1901 by an Arbois grower who had settled in the village. Two moulds are used to build the bunch, four men carry it to the church, and the grapes are given afterwards to the Clarisses of Poligny for sacramental wine. It is held on Saint Michael's day, 29 September.

Thirty-one growers found the Fruitiere d'Arbois

The Fruitiere Vinicole d'Arbois was created on 4 January 1906 by thirty-one Arbois growers. It now groups about 85 members farming around 288 hectares, and its own history credits that collective quality drive with the Arbois appellation decree of 15 May 1936.

Pasteur works his own vines at Montigny

In 1878 Louis Pasteur ran his experiments on grape fermentation in his own vines at the Clos de Rosieres in Montigny-les-Arsures. His family house at 83 rue de Courcelles in Arbois, where he kept a laboratory, is open to visitors, and the work on fermentation there led to pasteurisation.

Arbois is written into law, 15 May 1936

The Arbois appellation was created by decree on 15 May 1936 and covers twelve communes: Abergement-le-Grand, Arbois, Les Arsures, Les Planches-pres-Arbois, Mathenay, Mesnay, Molamboz, Montigny-les-Arsures, Pupillin, Saint-Cyr-Montmalin, Vadans and Villette-les-Arbois.

Chateau-Chalon, one wine and nothing else

Chateau-Chalon was created by decree on 29 May 1936 across four communes, Chateau-Chalon, Domblans, Menetru-le-Vignoble and Nevy-sur-Seille. It makes vin jaune from Savagnin and nothing else, at a maximum 30 hectolitres per hectare, and the wine may leave the barrel only after 15 December of the sixth year following the harvest.

Cotes du Jura and L'Etoile follow, 31 July 1937

Both the Cotes du Jura and L'Etoile appellations were created by decree on 31 July 1937. The Cotes du Jura runs the length of the vineyard across 105 communes and makes white, red, rose, vin de paille and vin jaune; L'Etoile is a small Chardonnay-led pocket north of Lons-le-Saunier.

Two thousand hectares replanted

Around 2,000 hectares of phylloxera-resistant material were replanted after the collapse, and the vineyard has stayed at roughly that size: 2,051 hectares producing 96,984 hectolitres in 2022. Arbois made 45,168 hectolitres in 2023 and the Cotes du Jura 34,082, whites well ahead of reds in both.

Macvin du Jura gets its decree

Macvin du Jura received its own appellation by decree of 14 November 1991, six centuries after growers started making it. Estates across the vineyard bottle it, and it sits on the same price shelf as a good white: Domaine Badoz lists its organic white Macvin at 26.30 euros.

Cremant du Jura, recognised 9 October 1995

Cremant du Jura was recognised by decree on 9 October 1995. It is made by the traditional method with a second fermentation in bottle and a minimum nine months on lees, from chardonnay, savagnin, pinot gris, pinot noir, poulsard and trousseau, and covered 428 hectares and 29,315 hectolitres in 2023.

Influences

• {'slug': 'salt-before-wine', 'name': 'Salt built the roads the wine uses', 'period': '12th century to 1895', 'year_range': '1100 to 1895', 'summary': "Salins-les-Bains sits at the northern end of the vineyard and worked salt for twelve centuries. Its 12th century gallery still holds a 19th century bucket wheel that lifts brine from underground. From 1775 the brine was piped 21 km to Ledoux's saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, built for Louis XV and listed by UNESCO in 1982.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://www.grande-saline.com/', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.salineroyale.com/', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'pupillin-and-the-ploussard', 'name': 'Pupillin ties itself to one grape', 'period': '1990 onward', 'year_range': '1990 to today', 'summary': "Pupillin has presented itself as the Ploussard village since 1990, using the local spelling of Poulsard. Arbois Pupillin is a complementary geographic denomination inside the Arbois appellation, and the village cooperative bottles Ploussard at 11.10 euros and a barrel-aged Plouss'Art at 13.90.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupillin', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.pupillin.com/vins-rouges', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'biodyvin-in-the-jura', 'name': 'Three Jura estates in the Biodyvin register', 'period': '2000s onward', 'year_range': '2000 to today', 'summary': "Biodyvin's member list carries three Jura estates: Domaine Tissot and Domaine du Pelican at Montigny-les-Arsures, and Domaine de la Pinte at Arbois. La Pinte converted its 34 hectares to organic farming in 1999 and began biodynamics in 2009.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://www.biodyvin.com/fr/liste-des-membres-biodyvin.html', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://lapinte.fr/', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'chateau-pecauld-museum', 'name': 'A vineyard museum in a 13th century chateau', 'period': '1993 onward', 'year_range': '1993 to today', 'summary': 'The Musee de la Vigne et du Vin du Jura opened in 1993 at Chateau Pecauld in Arbois, a 13th century building remodelled in the 18th and listed as a historic monument. Reconstructed plots of savagnin, chardonnay, poulsard and trousseau stand at the foot of the walls, with presses, foudres and stills in the vaulted cellars.', 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mus%C3%A9e_de_la_vigne_et_du_vin_du_Jura', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.coeurdujura-tourisme.com/culture-patrimoine-jura/musees/musee-de-la-vigne-et-du-vin/', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'biou-unesco-candidacy', 'name': 'France puts the Biou forward to UNESCO', 'period': '2026', 'year_range': '2026', 'summary': "The Biou d'Arbois is the file France has submitted for inscription on the UNESCO representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity. The town says the candidacy goes before the committee in China in November and December 2026.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://www.arbois.fr/', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.coeurdujura-tourisme.com/temps-fort/la-fete-du-biou-arbois/', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'the-percee-since-1997', 'name': 'The Percee gives the vineyard a winter date', 'period': '1997 onward', 'year_range': '1997 to today', 'summary': 'The Percee du Vin Jaune was started in 1997 by Bernard Badoz, a grower from Poligny. The first edition drew 15,000 people, attendance has settled near 45,000 a year, and the 2011 edition passed 60,000 over the weekend. It moves to a different wine village every year.', 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perc%C3%A9e_du_vin_jaune', 'open_status': 'seasonal', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.coeurdujura-tourisme.com/temps-fort/la-percee-du-vin-jaune/', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'trousseau-country-at-montigny', 'name': 'One village, one red grape', 'period': 'modern', 'year_range': '1900 to today', 'summary': "Montigny-les-Arsures presents itself as the Trousseau village, with a resident population of 236 in 2023 and an economy that was 70 percent wine in 2011. Four separate businesses work within walking distance of each other, and Pasteur's Clos de Rosieres is on the same slope.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://www.montigny-les-arsures.fr/', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montigny-l%C3%A8s-Arsures', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}

Signature innovations

• {'slug': 'voile-ageing-and-the-clavelin', 'name': 'Ageing under the voile, and the 62 cl bottle', 'period': 'traditional', 'year_range': 'historic to today', 'summary': 'Vin jaune spends six years and three months in barrel without being topped up. Evaporation leaves an air gap, a film of yeast grows across the surface and partly shields the wine from oxidation. The 62 cl clavelin is the volume said to remain of each litre after that ageing, and it is the only bottle the wine may be sold in.', 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_jaune', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://lapinte.fr/', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'sous-voile-against-ouille', 'name': 'Two schools in the same cellar', 'period': 'modern', 'year_range': '1990 to today', 'summary': "Jura growers split their whites two ways from the same grapes. Sous voile barrels are left unreplenished so the veil forms: Philippe Vandelle ages a Chardonnay Tradition eighteen months that way and a Savagnin three years. Ouille barrels are topped up like Burgundy, as with the Pupillin cooperative's Cuvee Marilou, a savagnin ouille.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://www.vinsphilippevandelle.com/les-vins/', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.pupillin.com/vins-blancs', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'vin-de-paille-on-claies', 'name': 'Drying the bunches on claies', 'period': 'traditional', 'year_range': 'historic to today', 'summary': 'Vin de paille is made from savagnin, chardonnay or poulsard bunches dried on slatted racks for a legal minimum of six weeks. Pressing gives about 20 litres of juice per 100 kilos of dried fruit, the wine finishes between 14 and 18.5 degrees depending on the year, and it then spends three years in small oak casks.', 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_de_paille', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.domaine-badoz.fr/fr_FR/nos-vins', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'declassifying-a-vintage', 'name': 'Declining the appellation in a bad year', 'period': '1974 to 2001', 'year_range': '1974 to 2001', 'summary': "Chateau-Chalon growers have downgraded whole vintages to Cotes du Jura rather than bottle them under the appellation, in 1974, 1980, 1984 and 2001. A national committee walks the parcels before harvest each year to check the fruit against the appellation's standard, a practice running since the 1950s.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ch%C3%A2teau-chalon_(AOC)', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.jura-vins.com/aoc-chateau-chalon.htm', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'fermentation-science-from-arbois', 'name': 'Pasteurisation comes out of a wine problem', 'period': '1860s to 1880s', 'year_range': '1860 to 1880', 'summary': "Pasteur's work on the diseases of wine and on fermentation was done in a wine region, at his family house in Arbois and in his own vines at Montigny-les-Arsures, and it produced pasteurisation. The house on rue de Courcelles keeps the laboratory he used.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://www.terredelouispasteur.fr/', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vignoble_du_Jura', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'the-cooperative-fruitiere', 'name': 'The fruitiere model, borrowed from cheese', 'period': '1906 to 1957', 'year_range': '1906 to 1957', 'summary': "The Jura applied the Comte cheesemakers' fruitiere to wine. Arbois was first in 1906, Pupillin followed in 1909, and Voiteur was set up at the end of the 1950s and now pools about sixty growers over 70 hectares, including Chateau-Chalon parcels. All three still run a public caveau.", 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://www.fvv.fr/', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://www.fruitiere-vinicole-arbois.fr/', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}
• {'slug': 'old-bottles-and-the-1774', 'name': 'A 1774 vin jaune, opened and auctioned', 'period': '1774 to 2018', 'year_range': '1774 to 2018', 'summary': 'A bottle of 1774 vin jaune was opened at Chateau Pecauld in Arbois on 13 November 1994 and found to be in remarkable shape. A second 1774 sold for 57,000 euros on 6 February 2011, and another reached 107,700 euros at Lons-le-Saunier on 26 May 2018.', 'verified': {'source_url': 'https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vignoble_du_Jura', 'open_status': 'open', 'open_evidence_url': 'https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vin_jaune', 'checked_on': '2026-09-22'}}