From 50ha of biodynamically-farmed vineyards, live wire Stéphane Tissot (who retains his parents’ name on the labels), makes an exemplary range of wines, while his wife Bénédicte manages the staff and office at the winery in Montigny-les-Arsures and the Arbois shop. The majority of the vineyards are in the Arbois AOC, but there is also a Château-Chalon plot and Côtes du Jura AOC plantings nearby.
Stéphane was among the earliest to make terroir-specific Jura Chardonnays, and his range culminates in Clos de la Tour du Curon, from closely-planted vines on a steep limestone slope above Arbois, worked only manually and by horse. A range of terroir-specific ouillé (topped-up) Savagnin is soon to be launched too. The whites age in barrel for 12-24 months. Reds are no less interesting, with the juicy DD blend, joining more serious single varietal wines, oak-aged in various barrel sizes. A Trousseau and a Savagnin are macerated, vinified and aged in amphorae.
The excellent Crémant range includes Indigène and Blanc de Noirs, in which frozen juice is used instead of standard liqueur de tirage. Stéphane has taken his terroir obsession further with a range of remarkably varied Vins Jaunes. When possible, he makes sweet wines in Vins de Paille style that are sweeter and lower alcohol than AOC rules permit. Winemaking is according to biodynamic principals, with low levels of sulfites added when required.
Note that there are two further Tissot domaines in the Arbois area, run by relatives.

The tiny production from Kenjiro and Mayumi Kagami’s 5-ha single vineyard plot (not all productive) in Grusse-Val Sonnette is in so much demand that sadly the wines have become widely speculated on. This couple work incredibly hard in their steep bowl of organic vineyards, which are predominantly on limestone, with almost no assistance. They sell the wines uniquely to trade (1/3 in France and 2/3 export) at a similar price to other leading Jura natural winemakers, but the wines have arrived on the grey market, only to be regularly re-sold.
From their first vintage in 2011, Kenjiro has made the wines in a resolutely natural way with no added sulfites. In a tiny cellar, wines are aged a minimum of two years in barrel and then at least 6-12 months in bottle before release. Sometimes the wines do not pass the AOC agrément (tasting test) and are sold as Vin de France.
In a decent year, two Chardonnays are made (Mizuiro and Sonorité du Vent) and a Savagnin named Entre Deux Bleus – all are topped up. There is one red blend (Ja-Nai) and a rarely produced third Chardonnay, the skin-contact I Need the Sun.

Fanfan to his friends, Jean-François Ganevat has made his family estate into one of Jura’s most recognizable. The 13-hectare estate in the hamlet of La Combe, in Rotalier, one of Jura’s southernmost wine villages, continues as it always has, but after some hiatus, with a somewhat different ownership structure.
Jean-François is overall consultant, his sister Anne runs the administration, and an experienced team manages winemaking and meticulously farm the biodynamic vineyards, which include several ancient vineyard plots and some rare, local grape varieties.
The négociant wines are sold under the name ‘Anne et Jean-François Ganevat’. For these, grapes are purchased both from Jura and from other regions.
Initially inspired by Burgundian winemaking, Jean-François evolved his style to focus on parcel selections and long ageing in oak of various sizes, concrete eggs or amphorae. Yet, he still makes sought-after Vin Jaune and even Chardonnay aged under the veil. Conversely, one of his earliest experiments, ageing Savagnin for a decade or more in barrels fully topped-up, led to one of his most famous and sought-after wines, Les Vignes de Mon Père. The quality of his reds overturned perceptions that this was a quality white-only area.
There can be 30-50 cuvées of estate wines in a good-volume year usually bottled with zero-added sulfites and released late. These are great wines of energy, life and usually precision, expressing the varied soils, grape varieties and maturation methods supremely well.

Based in the middle of Rotalier, Alain Labet, with his late wife Josie, and from as early as the 1990s with his talented winemaker son Julien, was the first in the southern Jura area to make several terroir selections of topped-up Chardonnay. With evocative parcel names like Les Varrons or Chalasses (both later made famous by close-neighbour Ganevat) they always impressed with how well they expressed the terroir.
As Julien gradually took over, and was joined by his siblings Charlene and Romain, they converted their 14ha vineyards to organics and took the route of making resolutely natural wines wtih no added sulfites since 2015. From being an estate that lurked in the shadows, these wines are now among the most sought-after from the Jura. They pride themselves on explaining the geology of each parcel at tastings, and now on back-labels too.
Whereas the Chardonnays remain the stars, made in a highly reductive style, and there is always a beautiful Savagnin ouillé (topped-up), there are also exemplary oxidative whites. Reds are featherlight, most in demand is the unusual Métis, a Vin de France blend which includes a local strain of Gamay and old hybrids. Crémant is a delight and proof that this range is not as wild as they might be.

The late Jean Macle created the reputation of this estate with his endless quest to make a refined and long-lived Château-Chalon, which he recommended drinking only from ten years after bottling (or 17 years after the vintage). His son Laurent is more flexible, but has maintained the high reputation extremely well, something that should continue through his own daughter, Carmen.
Laurent has made small changes, converting the 9ha of vineyards to organics, certified in 2019, and has introduced small-lot cuvées of Chardonnay and Savagnin that are more experimental (denoted by having a pick-axe on the label).
The main range is just four wines: 100% Chardonnay, aged under veil for 3-4 years (the label shows a line drawing of the house); a similarly-made Chardonnay blended with roughly 20% oxidative Savagnin with the more traditional label; a Chardonnay Macvin; and the famous Château-Chalon, from Savagnin grown in at least four different highly-rated, steep vineyard plots, rich in grey-marl, the traditional soil prized for Savagnin. The finesse, elegance and complexity of Macle’s long-lived Château-Chalon is extraordinary.
The meticulous, dry cellars are like a rabbit warren under the narrow streets of the hilltop village and if ever you get a chance (strictly by appointment), do visit.

Pierre Overnoy, born in 1937, is considered one of the fathers of natural wines, and made his wines without added sulfites from the mid-1980s. Today this is continued by his successor and adopted son Emmanuel (Manu) Houillon, and his wife Anne. It remains a small 6-ha estate with vineyards solely in Pupillin, growing mainly Chardonnay, Savagnin and Ploussard, with a tiny amount of young Trousseau, from which a Ploussard-Trousseau blend was made first in 2018.

Certified organic, the vineyards are managed meticulously, mainly along biodynamic lines. Barrels, foudres and concrete eggs are used in the ultra-clean cellars for long ageing, with further bottle ageing before release. The main range of wines is small, and it is only the colour of the wax cap that identifies what’s in the bottle (white for Chardonnay, yellow for Savagnin, red for Ploussard, violet for Trousseau-Ploussard). A Vin Jaune is released occasionally plus some other speciality releases.

Note that there are other, separate Overnoy domaines run by cousins.

This domaine has been hugely influential on younger generations of winemakers in the Jura and far beyond. However, since about 2015 the wines have begun to be traded on grey markets, and widely speculated on, so check sources carefully, pay the right price and beware of fakes.

The late Lucien Aviet was nicknamed Bacchus, hence the name of this 5ha-estate in Montigny-les-Arsures, which is now run by his son Vincent, with his son Maxence due to join the estate full-time soon. One of the most traditional estates in terms of winemaking, almost everything is aged in foudres, except Savagnin for Vin Jaune in barrels. Trousseau (from various sites), Melon-à-Queue Rouge (Chardonnay) and Vin Jaune are classic and long-lived wines.

Benjamin Saint-Benoit was only 23 when he took over this 6-ha Pupillin estate in 2019 after his father's premature death, but he had excellent experience with some top Burgundy estates and in New Zealand. In a short time he has transformed the estate, investing in a new, enlarged cellar, equipped with temperature controlled, small stainless steel tanks along with an array of barrels of different sizes. He also took on a full-time employee, which helps work more environmentally in the vineyards. He has expanded the wine range, focussing on terroir specific selections including five single-vineyard Ploussards - all the wines sport newly designed labels, and demand is growing fast.

This 7ha-estate in Gevingey just south of Lons-le-Saunier is run biodynamically and efficiently by Belgian couple Valérie and Fabrice Closset, who began it in 2008 after bags of vineyard experience. While their estate is dominated by Chardonnay and Pinot Noir (from which they make an excellent 70%/30% blend for a Brut Zéro Crémant), Savagnin plantings are being increased, and recently they have planted Trousseau. Demi-muid larger-sized barrels are used for part of the Crémant base and a topped-up blend - oxidative wines are made when they have enough wine. The couple work hard on creating a sustainable future for their family with orchards, bee hives and more.

This historic estate has been run since 2022 by Comte Pierre-Armand de Laguiche, who took over from his father Alain. The 16ha of vineyards in Arlay lie mainly on mixed marls below the ruined hill-top castle. There has been a decade of much-needed improvement in the vineyards (now organic) and in the winery, while the wine range evolves little. It includes a fascinating pink-ish cuvée named Corail, made from a blend of all five Jura varieties, and the star Vin Jaune and Vin de Paille.

Run by Hélène Berthet-Bondet, who took over from her father, Jean, located in the heart of the village of Château-Chalon, their 14ha of vineyards are split between the AOC Château-Chalon and AOC Côtes du Jura villages nearby - mainly Lavigny and Passenans. This enables them to make a complete range of organic Jura wines. Hélène is a competent winemaker, bridging the gap well between traditional and modern winemaking.

In 2018 Laura Bourdy took over this historic and ultra-traditional, biodynamically-farmed 10ha-estate in Arlay from her father Jean-François and Uncle Jean-Philippe. The traditional range is mostly unchanged apart from the labels. The cellars have been cleaned up but the old barrels remain for aging the oxidative Chardonnay and Savagnin whites (much of which becomes Côtes du Jura Vin Jaune or Château-Chalon as appropriate), and the blended red. All wines are filtered. The estate has a long tradition of keeping back a library of vintages, which are offered for sale, mainly from the estate, from where certification is available. Laura has her own range of modern-style early-drinking wines.

Starting from scratch in 2003, Julien Mareschal has come a long way with his Pupillin estate, making precise, organically-farmed wines that reflect their terroir really well. Today his 6ha of vineyards also includes a small holding up in Salins-les-Bains planted with some unusual varieties for future blends.

La Pinte, with its impressive winery surrounded by vineyards between Arbois and Pupillin, is well worth visiting. Owned by the Martin family, successive, excellent managers changed the 35-ha estate to be run first organically, then biodynamically with full certification. While all varieties are grown, over half is Savagnin, allowing them to show off the versatility of this grape, recently adding a skin-maceration version to the range. Long-term oenologist Emmanuelle Goydadin ensures excellent consistency with the carefully-made wines, which are aged in a range of oak cask sizes, and released often later than from other estates.

Evelyn Clairet has managed this 9ha-Arbois domaine since her husband Pascal's sudden death in 2021, and she hopes to be joined soon by her children. The couple, both trained oenologists, were known as natural winemaking pioneers, working with no or very low sulfite additions for many years. In order to continue this, Evelyne places great emphasis on vineyard work to try to deal with climate change, and on hygiene in the winery in St-Cyr-Montmalin and in the historic Arbois aging cellars. A range of classic Jura varietal wines is made, along with a Syrah from a very warm site in Mesnay. Some wines are held back for later release, denoted with an 'R' on the label. In summer the wines can be tried alongside the Cuisance River in Arbois at their delightful Bistrot.

This long-established family domaine has long been the star of L'Etoile. Now César and Baptiste, the sons of Nicole Dériaux, who had been in charge for many years, have taken over and are making their mark. The 10.5ha of vineyards, already managed in an environmentally-friendly way, are now en route to organic certification in 2026. Originally Chardonnay-dominated, more Trousseau and Savagnin are being planted. A new, large winery building houses small temperature-controlled stainless steel tanks and foudres to allow vinification of terroir lots with no or very low sulfite additions. Alongside a new range of ouillé (topped-up) whites and single-vineyard reds, are their traditional exemplary oxidative Chardonnay, Special Cuvée Chardonnay/Savagnin, Vin Jaune and Vin de Paille.

Pauline and Géraud Fromont farm 16ha mainly in the Sud Revermont area, near their practical winery in Ste-Agnès, although they have recently taken on some Arbois and L'Etoile vineyards. Making the whole range of Jura wine styles, these are some of the most reliable, low-intervention wines, made using a selection of different fermenting and ageing vessels, avoiding sulfite additions when possible.

This biodynamically-farmed 15ha estate was built up in stages from 2012 by Marquis Guillaume d'Angerville (of Volnay, Burgundy) and his estate manager François Duvivier. A state-of-the-art winery has been built into the slope on the original vineyard purchase in Montigny-les-Arsures. Other vineyards are all within 5km and include those in Montigny previously farmed by legendary producer Jacques Puffeney and part of Le Grand Curoulet, a top site in Arbois. All have been converted to biodynamics. Almost all Jura styles are made - Savagnins are particularly interesting with a sparkling (necessarily Vin de France as 100% Savagnin is not allowed in Crémant), two steely topped-up wines, a skin-maceration version, and latterly an oxidative version, and a Vin Jaune. Not surprisingly, reds are excellent and gradually the Jura character has emerged.

With their 12ha of scrupulously-farmed biodynamic vineyards all close to the winery in Montaigu, above Lons-le-Saunier, the Pignier siblings, Antoine, Jean-Etienne and Marie-Florence have built this historic winery into a superb estate that values Jura's heritage to the extent of trialling a range of old grape varieties. Now a new generation is gradually arriving with Antoine's son Thibaut taking over the winemaking, but few changes are planned. The wines include superb Crémants, no-or-low sulfite reds, Sauvageon - a topped-up Savagnin aged in concrete eggs, and a range of oak-aged topped up whites. The classic traditional styles are examplary, matured in their amazing Cistercian cellars, well worth visiting by appointment.

Françoise and Michel-Henri Ratte have run this biodynamically-certified estate since 2014 when they left the Arbois Fruitière (co-operative), and their son Justin joined them in 2016. Their 9ha vineyards in Arbois are located in some excellent sites, including Le Grand Curoulet. In a practical warehouse-like cellar, the current focus is on topped-up whites and early-drinking reds with no oak aging to better reflect the vineyards.

This long-established Arbois-based estate was taken over from the Rolet family in 2018, complete with its 63ha of vineyards, which stretch from Montigny-les-Arsures, through Arbois down to L'Etoile, with substantial plots in varous Côtes du Jura villages. Many improvements have been made, making the vineyards more sustainably farmed, and converting little-by-litte to organics, as well as much needed winery upgrading. This is already showing in the wines, which are a really solid range. Crémants and oxidative wines remain important, and great progress showing in reds and topped-up Savagnin, for example. Definitely one to keep an eye on.

It's unusual to have a newcomer in the ultra-traditional Château-Chalon area, but François Rousset-Martin has quickly made a name for himself, having only started making wines full time in 2018. He has 10ha of vineyards (including 7ha of Savagnin) in some of the best sites, partly taken over from his grandfather - they are farmed organically without certification. François believes in very long ageing in various sizes of old barrels, and is still to bottle some of his family's Château-Chalon that have aged under the veil for over ten years. He makes three reds from Pinot Noir and Poulsard, and up to seven terroir-specific cuvées each of Chardonnay and Savagnin, both oxidative and topped-up. Normally he adds no sulfites at any stage and often wines are relatively high in volatile acidity. These are exciting, intense wines.

After several years of experience working half the year in the New World, Marin Fumey now runs this sizeable (19ha) Montigny-les-Arsures estate, together with his parents. He has overseen conversion to organics, and an expansion of the cellars to allow more flexibility in working, as well as revamping the range to include some single vineyard selections. Topped-up whites are aged for a minimum of 18 months mainly in 500-liter barrels, whereas reds may be just in tank or in barrels or foudres. The wines remain fair value, characterful wines, and are well worth seeking out.

Valentin Morel took over running his father's traditional estate in 2014, having pursued a different career first. He began by changing everything - first converting the Poligny vineyards to organics and then making wines with no added sulfites, out of utter conviction. Running into problems with difficult vintages, due to the negative effects of climate change, he became one of the first in the region to advocate planting hybrid varieties. These account so far for about 10% of his total area of 8ha, with a big selection, from traditional hybrids to more modern PIWIs. He makes a blended white and red from the hybrids, alongside his traditional Jura range. Valentin has written a book about his experiences, 'Un autre vin' - he is an ever-questioning winemaker.

Something of a maverick, Michel Gahier has run his 8-ha estate in Montigny-les-Arsures organically for years, without certification, and has added no or minimal sulfites to his wines for decades, rarely being cited in lists of natural wine producers. He takes care to preserve some very old vines, and is experimenting with rare/forgotten grape varieties. In the cellar he works very traditionally with long ageing. Stars from his relatively small range include various Trousseau cuvées, Melon à Queue Rouge (Chardonnay) and Vin Jaune.

Couple Adeline (sister of Manu Houillon of Maison Overnoy, a big influence) and Renaud (who worked for Stéphane Tissot for several years) have quietly made a name for themselves as one of the most reliable natural wine producers, shunning sulfites completely. Having reduced their vineyards (in Pupillin and Arbois) to just 4ha, they do almost everything themselves. They enlarged their cellar in 2023 to give them flexibility for longer barrel and bottle-aging pre-release, and for making a small amount of Vin Jaune when they can. There are usually five white and three red cuvées. A treat if you can find them.

Florent Rouve (whose name appears sometimes as the brand on these wines) took over from Jean Rijckaert many years ago, and deftly oversees both the Mâconnais and Jura estates, the latter now with its own winery in Villette-lès-Arbois and an experienced on-site manager. With just over 6ha close to Arbois and Pupillin (some in AOC Côtes du Jura), Florent would like to expand, but meantime grapes are purchased for a négociant range, identified by brown capsules. The domaine vineyards have been officially converted to organics with certification, even though this does not appear on labels. There is a tiny production of Poulsard, otherwise the range is restricted to profound and expressive topped-up Chardonnays and Savagnins.

Maison du Vigneron is the overall company name for the largest Jura négociant, owned by Les Grands Chais de France. Wines for export are often found under the name of Marcel Cabelier, especially their excellent value-for-money Crémant du Jura. This, and other wines in their complete Jura range, are also sold under a myriad other brand names - Aldi in the UK is a big customer for Crémant. The company now owns 55ha, mainly in the southern part of Jura - these estate wines are labelled as Domaine de Savagny or Domaine Durand Perron, and are a big step up from their négociant range, especially worthwhile are the Vin Jaune and Château-Chalon. The estate vineyards are well-managed and winemaking is under an experienced oenologist.

One of the oldest wine co-operatives in France, this is also the largest producer in the Jura, where three out of four of the co-operatives are named Fruitières (in homage to the Comté co-operatives). The offices are in Château Béthanie in Arbois, which is used as a brand name - the winery is behind. Just over 80 members own about 280ha, the majority in AOC Arbois - only 18ha was organic in 2024, but that will increase slowly. Winemaking is competent leading to particularly good Crémants du Jura (including the interesting Château Béthanie, using Vin Jaune as part of the dosage) and Vins Jaune; they also have fun brands such as 'Love Poulsard', 'Love Chardonnay' and 'Trousseau Revolution,' as well as a rather over-priced organic brand, named Fructea.