Jura Wines

The Jura is a small vineyard of about 1,850 hectares on the hills between Burgundy and Switzerland, with five grapes and a way of ageing under a veil of yeast that the region has made its own. Its whites, from Chardonnay and Savagnin, are either topped up like any other white or left under a veil of yeast, the method that gives vin jaune.
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The vineyard runs about 80 kilometres from north to south, from Salins-les-Bains to Saint-Amour, and is worked by some 200 estates. It has four geographical appellations, Arbois, Côtes du Jura, L'Étoile and Château-Chalon, and three for a kind of wine, Crémant du Jura, Macvin du Jura and Marc du Jura. Arbois, recognised by the decree of 15 May 1936, is among the very first French appellations; it covers 766 hectares over 12 communes. Five grapes are allowed: Chardonnay and Savagnin for the whites, Poulsard, Trousseau and Pinot Noir for the reds.

The Jura's signature is the veil. A white left in barrel without topping up grows a film of yeast on its surface, and under that veil the wine takes on notes of walnut, curry and dried fruit. Taken to its end, with Savagnin only and years in barrel, this gives vin jaune, sold in the squat 62-centilitre clavelin; Château-Chalon, some fifty hectares of Savagnin, makes nothing else. The same grapes made in the ouillé style, topped up and protected from air, give whites closer to those of Burgundy, and many estates make both. Vin de paille, from grapes dried before pressing, is a sweet wine of the region.

Ouillé and under-veil whites sit side by side here; the label, or the wine's page, says which.

The wines above are every Jura wine in the cellar. See also our white wines, natural wines or the new arrivals.