The Jura wine region is one of France’s smaller wine regions—the planted area (about 2,100 hectares, or 5,300 acres) is roughly the equivalent of the Pinot Noir grown in Santa Barbara County, California, and less than half the vineyard area of Chablis. Jura is subject to disastrous weather hazards, including spring frosts and rampant mildew, resulting in varied vintage volumes. Yet, when everything goes well, producers make a dazzling range of intriguing wine styles from the region’s five main grape varieties, offering increasingly high quality, too.
Defining how a wine from the Jura might taste, even after close study of the label, can be challenging. More than anything else, this is Jura’s appeal—its huge diversity of wine styles cloaked in mystery, combined with scarceness and a big dose of authenticity.
The vineyards of the Jura region are on the western foothills of the Jura Mountains, or on hillocks that have broken off from those ancient mountains, which are considerably older than the Alps. The bedrock is from the late Triassic up to the early Jurassic (Liassic) geological epochs. This is, in fact, where the term Jurassic originates. During the upthrust of the Alps some millions of years later, the Jura Mountains slipped westward toward the Bresse plain, creating a series of plateaus and pushing up the sedimentary rock. Marls (clay-limestone) of various colors are the most prevalent soils. Marl is present in Burgundy, too, just 50 miles (80 kilometers) west across the Bresse plain, but Jura is dominated by clay-driven soils, while Burgundy has a much lower percentage of clay composition. In Jura, the variations in topsoil, with fossils scattered around, allow for the different grape varieties to be grown.
Chardonnay is ubiquitous, representing 43.5% of the planted area in 2024. While the grape is not indigenous to the area, Jura was once part of the duchy of Burgundy, and it has been grown there since the 14th century under various names, including Melon. Today, the ancient Jura variation of Chardonnay, Melon à Queue Rouge (named for having a reddish stem when ripe), is much prized. As it is propagated only through massal selection, there is very little. It tends to give more pronounced fruit. The other main white (25%) is Savagnin, genetically identical to Traminer and considered by most ampelographers as indigenous to Jura. Savagnin is said to perform best in the gray-blue Triassic marls, but it can also ripen well on other soils.
According to documents at Jura’s Château d’Arlay, Pinot Noir (12% of plantings) has ancient origins dating to the 13th century, and it may have grown in Jura earlier than in Burgundy. Equal amounts of the indigenous Poulsard (also known as Ploussard) are grown. Poulsard is a fickle grape, which, like Savagnin, does well in cooler sites and on gray-blue marls. The third permitted red variety is Trousseau (7.5% of plantings), a close relative of Savagnin, which is also grown in Iberia under different names. As Bastardo, it is one of the permitted Port varieties. Until the impacts of climate change became significant, it was considered best to plant Trousseau and Pinot Noir on the warmest sites with gravelly or stony topsoil, often over colored marls or limestone. Now, Trousseau thrives on other sites, too, and is considered, with Savagnin, the variety most able to cope with climate change.
The regional AOC Côtes du Jura and the village AOC Arbois (including the subappellation Arbois-Pupillin) allow all the main red and white wine styles of Jura. Despite covering a smaller area, Arbois AOC has more plantings. L’Etoile AOC, a small village appellation, is restricted to whites (including vin de paille, which may have red grapes included); Château-Chalon AOC is restricted to vin jaune. Wines made within these last two appellations that do not comply with the requirements (for example, reds in L’Etoile or Chardonnay in Château-Chalon) default to Côtes du Jura AOC. Two other appellations, Crémant du Jura and Macvin du Jura, cover the whole area.
As if the varied soils, grapes, and appellations are not sufficiently complex, Jura has many producers for being such a tiny area. Out of around 210 producers registered for AOC production, the top 10 account for about half the vineyard area, and this number includes 4 wine cooperatives, or fruitières, a local name. A typical producer makes about 15 different wines, even from just six hectares (15 acres). Domaine Ganevat makes more than 30 wines from one vintage, and that’s before accounting for its négociant range.
The producers working organically in the region, the vast majority of whom are certified organic, tend to offer particularly wide ranges, even when they are very small estates. In 2023, the Société de Viticulture du Jura stated that 125 vine farms (a mixture of estates and cooperative members) were farmed organically, representing approximately 30% to 35% of vineyard plantings. The number of biodynamically certified vineyards is harder to estimate, but these represent about 8% of the vineyard area. Many organically certified vineyards, however, use biodynamic methods. These practices are encouraged by two producer groups: Le Nez dans le Vert (with about 45 members), established in 2011; and Juracines (with about 14 members, who have a higher average vineyard area than members of the other group), established in 2022. Both these groups insist on organic certification for their members.
The appellation Crémant du Jura represents 25% to 30% of the region’s total production. White Crémant du Jura wine is perhaps the only Jura wine style that would be truly familiar to the first-time Jura taster. Crémant du Jura, a traditional method sparkling wine based on Chardonnay, is mostly made as brut. Until recently, these wines were generally at the top end of the brut dosage allowance. Producers have gradually been using less dosage, which is much easier now in the warming climate, with more exuberant fruit and less natural acidity in the grapes. Increasingly, a brut zéro, with no added dosage, is offered as well; for organic producers, this is often the only style. Pinot Noir is increasingly added to the blend, bringing complexity. Rules state that 70% of the base wine must be Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and/or Trousseau; there are blanc de noirs now, too.
There is a move, spearheaded by Domaine du Pélican (owned by the Marquis d’Angerville, of Burgundy’s Domaine Marquis d’Angerville, and François Duvivier, his estate manager), to push for a rule change allowing more than the current 30% Savagnin, ideally 100%. Savagnin offers high natural acidity, which is much needed for sparkling. But there is no sign of an official change yet. Pélican produces a zingy and steely 100% traditional method Savagnin, classified as Vin de France.
Crémants must be aged on the second fermentation lees for a minimum of 9 months, but most good producers aim for at least 18 months. At every price level, however, quality and value for money are excellent, and, at the top end, these sparkling wines are world-class. More distinct are the rosé crémant wines (currently 13% of total Crémant du Jura production and increasing). Poulsard can often add a touch of reductive character to the wine, whereas Trousseau gives an intense, darker pink color and a more vinous character to these bubbles. Although the wines are usually a blend, the rules simply require a minimum 50% red varieties.
Early drinking pétillant naturel wines are made by some producers, usually only in abundant years, and sold under the Vin de France label. Although often hazy in appearance, they are increasingly clean, full of joyous fruit, and made in a range of styles.
At the turn of this century, Jura outsiders (this author included) found that most of the region’s red wines tasted decidedly odd and often hard; today, the eclectic wine world cannot get enough of them. Yet in a typical year, these wines represent less than 20% of the region’s production. Low volumes of dry or off-dry rosé are regularly made only by a handful of larger producers. Smaller producers may make an early drinking rosé in an abundant year. In the local market, historically (and sometimes still today) the very pale red Poulsard wines were, confusingly, often sold as rosés despite being vinified as reds.
Jura’s red wines can be deceptive: from very pale to moderate in color and intensity, they often exude more forest floor and animal aromas than fruit, and the palate seems to defy expectations. High acidity is typical, showing relatively little fruit, with light or moderate but grippy tannins. They are classic food-friendly wines. In the past 10 to 20 years, however, this profile has evolved toward more fruit-forward qualities, varying not only with vintage but with the producer’s chosen vinification and maturation methods. Historically, alcohol was light, and it remains so for Poulsard, but in the recent years of very hot summers, some Trousseau and Pinot Noir wines have reached 14% ABV.
As in other regions, with riper, healthier grapes, destemming is not always a given, but it is usually deemed essential for Trousseau, whereas Poulsard and Pinot Noir may be partially destemmed or not at all. For Poulsard especially, some producers use semicarbonic maceration, particularly those who do not add sulfites. A full discussion on the use of added sulfites is beyond the scope of this article, but, for better understanding, it is worth knowing that Poulsard is an extremely reductive variety, and Trousseau also has a reductive tendency. Sulfites can exacerbate that reductive or animally character, especially in Poulsard, so, in wines without added sulfites, fruit and freshness come to the fore. Some reds are vinified without any oak, despite what their depth of character might suggest. Many producers do mature Trousseau and, especially, Pinot Noir in oak, with barrel size ranging from small Burgundian barrels (228 liters) through demi-muid barrels (400–600 liters) up to large foudres (1,000 liters or more), almost never new oak.
In Jura, the tradition was to make red blends, but, in the past few decades, most reds have been made as varietal wines, especially in Arbois AOC, whose warmer sites are considered better for red grapes. Blends are, however, still made, particularly in Côtes du Jura AOC, and producers are slowly returning to them, partly as they offer insurance against crop failure of one of the three varieties.
Jura’s white wines, made from Chardonnay and/or Savagnin, are best understood by dividing them into two families: the first is known variously as sous voile, oxidative, and tradition, and includes the legendary vin jaune; the second is known as ouillé, or topped-up wines, made using classic white winemaking methods.
Topped-up Chardonnay is Jura’s most prevalent white wine. Styles range from a simple version, fermented and aged in tank and often reminiscent of a Mâcon-Villages, to barrel-fermented and aged Chardonnay that can compete with the best from the Côte d’Or. The high standards were set for pioneering single-vineyard Chardonnays in the mid-2000s by the Labet family, Stéphane Tissot, and Jean-François Ganevat, and numerous other estates have followed. The wines vary not only based on their terroir but also by the winemaker’s imprint.
What makes Jura Chardonnay distinct is partly a somewhat wetter climate and the prevalence of marl soils, giving lower pH (more acidity) as well as imparting more distinctly stony, mineral, or earthy flavors. The wines can have almost nutty characters, which can trick the taster into believing they might have been made oxidatively. The other difference comes from oak use. Even though most Jura Chardonnay is made in the same way as a classic white Burgundy, the proportion of new oak is very low; many producers have no barrels under five years old. All sizes of barrels are used, and long oak aging, from two to four years, is increasingly practiced. The best Jura Chardonnays are not only complex but also very long-lived.
Beginning in the 1990s, Savagnin ouillé was made by a handful of vignerons, but it was slow to take off as a style, as the locals were not interested. This was the first time the true taste of wines from the Savagnin grape was experienced, as previously the flavors from sous voile aging were dominant. Today, both large and small producers make Savagnin ouillé, and these wines offer zingy acidity with citrus flavors (sometimes even lemon curd), some with extraordinary texture and length. Savagnin is highly versatile, and ouillé wines are made in many styles. Tissot will soon be launching a range of terroir-specific Savagnin ouillé cuvées. Given the demands on Savagnin for sous voile wines, too, these days, there is rarely enough ouillé to meet demand. There are a few Chardonnay-Savagnin ouillé blends as well.
Skin-maceration, or orange, wines are a small subset of ouillé wines. Several producers have made a version with Savagnin, and a few have used Chardonnay. The former, with its thick skins and pronounced citrus flavors, is particularly suitable. At least one orange wine has been made in a sous voile style.
An understanding of vin jaune is key to understanding the sous voile category. Vin jaune can be made under the appellations Côtes du Jura, Arbois, L’Etoile, and Château-Chalon. It is based on Savagnin and traditionally bottled in a 62-centiliter clavelin after roughly six years and three months, having spent over five years in barrel aging under a veil of flor-like yeast.
The vin jaune style varies partly by terroir, partly by how the Savagnin wine is handled before maturation (usually, it is topped up for several months or longer), and partly through the conditions of the aging “cellar.” The ventilated cave à vin jaune is rarely an actual underground cellar. Instead, it might be a loft, or it might be located at ground level or a few steps below ground. Some producers have a few barrels in several locations, which adds complexity. In the Arbois area, the tradition is to age at least partly in loft or attic areas, where temperatures may fluctuate between minus 5 degrees Celsius (23 degrees Fahrenheit) in winter and 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) in summer. A typical Château-Chalon aging cellar is just below ground, where the fluctuations are less extreme, and it is more likely to be 10 to 20 degrees Celsius (18 to 36 degrees Fahrenheit). The latter leads to a finer, more elegant character and results in less evaporation of the wine’s water content, and thus lower alcohol levels, typically below 14% ABV. Especially with climate change, Arbois vin jaune tends to be 14.5% to 15% ABV or higher. The wines also are marked by more overt walnut character, compared with the more subtle spice (ginger, fenugreek, cumin) or peaty character of Château-Chalon. Inevitably, there are crossovers, and Côtes du Jura and L’Etoile vins jaunes vary hugely. All vins jaunes are bone dry with a whack of acidity that shocks the palate initially, but, on a second sip, or with a morsel of good Comté cheese (maximum 18 months old, in my view, so as not to overwhelm the wine), the depth and complexity of character emerge. Arguably, this is the ultimate Jura experience.
During the vin jaune aging process, following regular laboratory analysis, most producers withdraw a proportion of barrels from aging after two to four years, choosing those where analysis shows either that volatile acidity is beginning to rise too high or that they are not expressing enough jaune characteristics. Many of these wines are released as pure Savagnin, often labeled as tradition. These could almost be considered baby vins jaunes. The flavors are not as intense, and the wines do not age nearly as well—a mere decade instead of several decades. They offer an expressive style, however, that is not as extreme, and they are a good value.
Other wines in this family use some of the withdrawn Savagnin (usually 20% to 50%) in a blend with Chardonnay, which has been either made conventionally (that is, topped up) or aged oxidatively. When not topped up, Chardonnay is often aged in a vin jaune cellar and sometimes forms a veil. Oxidative Chardonnay is a tradition in the southern part of the region (including L’Etoile and Côtes du Jura from the Château-Chalon area), but it is becoming less prevalent.
Also made in Jura are tiny quantities of semisweet to sweet vin de paille, made from grapes dried after an early harvest and oak aged before release three years after harvest. These vary greatly in style. Tissot is known for his lusciously sweet wines made from grapes dried on straw, but these do not fit the strict vin de paille rules, as they are not fermented to the requisite 14% ABV. A few other producers also make similar wines that don’t fit the legal requirements for vin de paille.
About 6% of total Jura production is of the semi-sweet Macvin, a liqueur wine made from an oak-aged blend of unfermented juice and previously oak-aged marc du Jura, distilled from the producers’ own grape residues. Locally, Macvin is drunk as an aperitif, but it works equally well at the end of the meal, although it is rarely sweet enough to match well with desserts.
Jura is a fascinating place to grow grapes and make wine, albeit beset by vintage challenges. Its many styles are traditional for the tiny region, and they are also a motivation for producers. Today, Jura winemakers face a paradox, with dramatically fluctuating vintage volumes and an explosion of worldwide interest. This interest will endure, as will the myriad wine styles, even as producers evolve in response to higher pH levels and international market demands.
Wink Lorch's books are available through Académie du Vin Library. GuildSomm members receive 25% off AdV books with the code found on the Member Discounts page. Some exceptions apply.
Campy, Michel. Terroirs Viticoles du Jura. Méta-Jura, 2017.
Lorch, Wink. Jura Wine Ten Years On. Académie du Vin Library, 2024.
Robinson, Jancis, Julia Harding, and José Vouillamoz. Wine Grapes. Allen Lane, 2013.
UCMP (University of California Museum of Paleontology). “The Jurassic Period.” In Online Exhibits, Geologic Time Scale, Mesozoic Era. Accessed June 25, 2025. https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/mesozoic/jurassic/jurassic.php.