The department (county) of Jura is found in the region of Franche Comte in the east of France. Bordering it are, to the east, Switzerland; to the north, the departments of Doubs and Cote d'Or; to the west, the department of Saone et Loire, and to the south the department of Ain.

The wine growing area follows a north/south route, which is slightly curved, and runs for around a hundred kilometres (just over 62 miles) from Salins-les-Bains to St Amour. This narrow band of land is known as the Revermont or "Bon Pays" (good country) and is bounded to the east by the first plateau of the Jura mountains and to the west by the Bresse plain. The route of the main N83 is the best guide.

The wine growing area covered by the Appellation Controlee is 1800 hectares (4,300 acres). The Revermont is a very fertile area and is well supplied with water by the many rivers that cross it.

The vines are grown on the rolling hills that run up the sides of the limestone plateau.

They have a west and south westerly aspect and the slope varies between 10% and 40%.

The altitude ranges from 250 to 450 metres (800 to 1300 feet) above sea level.

The geology consists largely of blue, grey and red marl with some of the underlying limestone of the plateau exposed in places.

The climate is semi-continental with harsh winters, but with warm, early spring weather, followed by hot summers and warm autumns. The grape harvest rarely starts before the 1st October.

The Jura wine area is one of the oldest in France. Archaeologists have established the presence of vines in the area going back around 5000 years. In the 6th century AD the Phoenicians, when coming up from Marseille following the Saone river, found and took home with them the wines of Sequanie - the former name of Franche Comte. The first person to speak of Jura wines was the Roman Consul Pliny the Younger (62 to 144 AD). It was under the influence of the Romans, famous for their remarkable ability to work the soil, that the undeniable development of this wine region occurred. Arbois, Chateau-Chalon, L'Etoile, three pearls of jurassian viticulture, have been cited for their quality since the first millennium.

It was Phillip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, who introduced these wines to the French Court in the 15th century. They became the favourites of Henri IV and Francois I. This passion extended to introducing jurassian vine stock to the Chateau of Fontainebleau. The poets Rabelais, Rousseau and more recently Vian and Brel drank the wines and sang about the Jura. The Jura region also holds several other important people close to it's heart, like Alexis Millardet (inventor of Bordeaux Mixture) and the illustrious Louis Pasteur (father of Oenology).

The Jura wine area reached it's peak at the end of the 19th century with 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres). The effects of phylloxera, wars and many other difficult situations combined to reduce this area considerably, but to give up would not be in the nature of either the wine makers or the vines. It is due to the great courage of the winemakers that Jura wine has rediscovered its well deserved place.