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Vineyard
An ancestral wine-growing district
AR BOS = Celtic origin, meaning "fertile land".
1300 to 800 BC
According to Julius Caesar, the Sevan lands (between the Rhine and Rhône) were the most fertile in Gaul.
40 BC
Salins-les-Bains is born from salt springs: salt accompanies the development of the vine. Salt was the main source of income until the 13th century.
600
Necessity of worship and transport difficulties: development of the vine on the monastery and pilgrimage routes.
Middle Ages
Due to its strategic geographical location, the Jura vineyards were at the centre of commercial and diplomatic transactions between France, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
Renaissance
Francis I fell in love with Jura wines and planted Arbois marcottes (cuttings) in the properties of the Château de Fontainebleau.
1515
Henri IV laid siege to Arbois, fell under the spell of its wines and brought them back to the table of the Kings of France.
1595
Lots of vines were planted everywhere. The plains were covered with high-yield vines producing wines of mediocre quality.
16th and 17th centuries
Versailles decrees the uprooting of coarse grape varieties and lowland vineyards.
Early 18th century
The Jura had 20,000 hectares of vines when powdery mildew and downy mildew raged. Pasteur, a native of the region, developed treatments in his vineyard and laboratory in Arbois.
1866
Phylloxera wipes out the vineyards; the Jura has just 5,000 hectares of vines.
1887 to 1895
The Jura rebuilds its vineyards and focuses on quality (5 grape varieties, low yields, restriction of planting areas).
Early 20th century
Arbois winegrowers go on a tax strike, threatened by famine (ruthless competition from wines from the south of France).
1906
War broke out, even though the Jura had 12,000 hectares of vines. There was such a shortage of labour that by 1918, the area had shrunk to 7,000 hectares.
1914
The first AOC decree appears in the Journal Officiel at the request of the Arbois winegrowers. The Arbois AOC is born, followed by Château-Chalon and then Côtes du Jura.
1936
The Second World War further weakened the vineyards.
1945
At the end of the terrible winter, the Jura vineyards delivered a terrible verdict: only 2,545 hectares remained.
1956
A genuine winegrowing policy is put in place. Birth of the AOC Arbois Pupillin.
1970
AOC Macvin
1991
AOC Crémant (Jura has been producing sparkling wines since the 18th century)
1995
First Percée du Vin Jaune in Poligny.
1996
The Revermont’s slopes
The Arbois vineyard is one of France's oldest yet most confidential vineyards: a thin strip of clay-limestone soil hugs the blue, grey and red marl slopes of the Revermont. The seas of the Secondary Era (between 230 and 160 million years ago) deposited clay and limestone mud, which gradually turned into marl. It is the abundance and mineralogical quality of these marls that are at the origin of the exceptional wine-growing terroirs of the Arbois vineyards.
Jura grape varieties
Each grape variety thrives best on a particular type of soil:
Red grape varieties:
- Pinot noir: it expresses itself best at the foot of limestone ledges, where a blanket of scree lightens the underlying Lias marl.
- Poulsard: its favourite soils are the heavy soils of the Lias and Trias.
- Trousseau: this is the most demanding of all, requiring light, warm soils. It also needs to be thinned out so that the sun's rays can reach it.
White grape varieties:
- Chardonnay: it is at its best at the foot of the limestone ledges, where a blanket of scree lightens the underlying Lias marl.
- Savagnin: its favourite soils are the heavy soils of the Lias and Trias.
The vines of the Fruitière Vinicole d'Arbois
Our vineyards cover almost 300 hectares, as follows:
- 191 ha of whites
- 96 ha of reds
Growing methods
Our vines in the region are generally located on hillsides with varying degrees of slope and a predominantly west/south-west orientation. The altitude is between 250 and 400 metres. The vines are planted at a density of between 4,500 and 6,500 vines per hectare, pruned using the guyot method and trellised. As winegrowers, we adapt the pruning of our vines to control the concentration of sugar and polyphenols in the grapes. These new pruning are accompanied by green harvesting (thinning, leaf removal) to ensure that the quality of the grapes is constantly improved.
Climate change is forcing us to look for new ways to protect the vines (fire, candles, anti-freeze towers).
Through a global approach "from vineyard to glass", our winegrowers cultivate the vines by embracing all the aspects of integrated viticulture. These techniques enable us to produce a healthy, high-quality wine from an agricultural method that minimises environmental impact. Organic farming is practised within the FVA, on a surface area of 18.50 ha, most of which is planted with Chardonnay.
