Climate and Geography
The climate of Jura is continental with many similarities to Burgundy but can be more aggressively cold, especially in the winter time. Ripeness levels of the grapes is always a concern for winemakers of the area and Harvest times are often delayed as long as possible (usually well into late October) to try to achieve the highest levels possible. To help lessen the threat of Autumn frost, grapevines are often trained to the Guyot system.
The majority of the regions vineyards are found at altitudes between 820-1,310 ft (250-400 m) between the plains of the Bresse region and the Jura Mountains. The towns of Lons-le-Saunier and Arbois are the principal cities in the wine region. The vineyard soils tend to composed of mostly clay in the lower flat lands with more limestone based soils in the higher elevation. Deposits of marl are scattered throughout the region with some of the area's most regarded vineyards being found on those sites. Many vineyard slopes are quite steep which creates problems with soil erosion.
Read more about this topic: Jura Wine
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