Jura (wine region)
The in eastern France between Burgundy and Switzerland preferred wine growing region Jura in Jura has long been from other growing areas isolated. It has preserved its centuries-old winemaking tradition with its own grape varieties ( Poulsard , Trousseau , Savagnin , Béclan ), anachronistic types of aging and wine specialties such as Vin Jaune and Vin de Paille .
history
The viticulture of the Jura began 58 BC with the conquest of the area by the Romans. About 30 years later there was already a pronounced cultivation. Instead of importing the wines from Italy, the first exports began around this time. This is mentioned in writing in the work of Pliny the Younger .
The well-known salt pans ( Salins-les-Bains and Lons-le-Saunier ) in the region helped exports to what was then Switzerland , Belgium , Holland and Germany through the already existing trade relations . After the fall of the Roman Empire, there was hardly any further development in viticulture. This only changed with the founding of the monasteries of Vaucluse and Bonlieu in the 5th and 6th centuries. As a result, the Jura was a large wine-growing region. From the 10th century there are sufficient sources documented in writing. The documents of that time already show a concentration of viticulture around the towns of Arbois , Salins-les-Bains and Lons-le-Saunier. At the same time, three variants of viticulture developed:
- viticulture in the vicinity of the monasteries and the nobility, who tried to cultivate quality,
- bourgeois viticulture in the vicinity of the cities and
- rural viticulture with the smallest of areas for personal use.
The Jura wines were particularly valued by King Henry IV .
At the beginning of the 19th century, the vineyard area was almost 20,000 hectares, which was divided into over 40 grape varieties. With the onset of the phylloxera disaster, almost all of the vines were destroyed.
Today there are still around 1920 hectares on which around 85,000 hectoliters of wine are produced (as of 2005).
geography
The growing area is aligned in a north-south axis, begins at Champagne-sur-Loue near Salins-les-Bains in the north and ends after about 80 kilometers at Saint-Amour near the border with the Ain department. The vineyards are located at an altitude of 250 m to 450 m above sea level and lie between the level of the Bresse and Jura . In the north of the area clay soils predominate, in the south more limestone soils.
climate
The climate is strongly continental with quite cold winters (temperatures down to −15 ° C), the summer is less consistently good than in Burgundy. The mean duration of sunshine is between 1750 and 1900 hours and the mean annual amount of rain is between 1000 and 1400 millimeters per year.
Regions
The main appellations are Arbois , Château-Chalon , Côtes du Jura , Crémant du Jura and L'Étoile .
Arbois
The appellation "Arbois" is awarded to 13 municipalities in the region around the town of Arbois . In 2002, 22,521 hectoliters of red and rosé wine, 14,516 hectoliters of white wine, 539 hectoliters of Vin de Paille and 260 hectoliters of Crémant were produced on a total of 842 hectares of vineyards. This makes it the most important appellation in the Jura, even though it is an enclave within the Côtes du Jura.
Château-Chalon
The famous Vin Jaune is produced on only 45 hectares around the small town of Château-Chalon . In 2002, 1647 hectoliters of this fine wine were brought in. The quality requirements for this wine are high. In 1974, 1980, 1984 and 2001 not a single wine was recognized as Vin Jaune and therefore had to be sold as a normal Jura wine.
Cotes-du-Jura
This appellation can be found along the entire length of the Jura wine-growing region. The cultivation area is 503 hectares with a yield of 14,725 hectoliters of white wine, 7662 hectoliters of red and rosé wine and 572 hectoliters of Vin de Paille (status: 2002).
L'Etoile
The L'Etoile appellation is planted on only about 50 hectares. Only high-quality white wines are produced here. In 2002 this was 2718 hectoliters.
Specialties
literature
- Jancis Robinson : The Oxford Wine Lexicon . 3. Edition. Gräfe and Unzer Verlag, 2007, ISBN 978-3-8338-0691-9 .
- Pierre Galet : Cépages et Vignobles de France . 1st edition. Lavoisier Publishing House, Paris 2004, ISBN 2-7430-0585-8 .
- Benoît France (ed.): Grand Atlas des Vignobles de France . 1st edition. Solar publishing house, Paris 2002, ISBN 2-263-03242-8 .
Individual evidence
- ↑ Jancis Robinson: The Oxford Wine Lexicon. Hallwag Verlag, Munich 2003, p. 353.