Caveau de Bacchus

Caveau de Bacchus is the name carried by the Aviet family's vines in Montigny-lès-Arsures, the small village above Arbois that holds more Trousseau than any other commune in the Jura. Lucien Aviet — nicknamed Bacchus by his university friends — planted his first vines on returning from the Algerian War in 1960, though the family's documented connection to the vineyard dates back to 1447. In 1968 he founded the Confrérie de Bacchus with geologist friends from the University of Besançon, who organised harvests and scientific symposia around wine — hence the names of the cuvées. Lucien passed away in May 2021 at the age of 84; the estate is now run by his son Vincent and grandson Maxence.

The six hectares of the domaine grow on soils of extraordinary geological precision, mapped by Lucien alongside his scientist friends over decades: grey Liassic marls in paper-thin layers, encrinite limestone with fossilised oysters, clay with chailles (siliceous flint nodules) and limestone scree at the base of rock ledges. All vines — aged 30 to over 70 years — come from mass selection. Trousseau is planted on clay and chailles; Savagnin on foliated grey marls; Ploussard on iridescent Triassic marls; Melon à Queue Rouge on the fresher colluvial soils.

Winemaking is classically Jurassian: hand harvest, indigenous yeasts, 12 to 15 months in large old oak foudres, no new wood, and minimal sulphites added only to the must. The Trousseau wines are bottled as Cuvée des Géologues in separate single-parcel expressions (Nonceau, Les Bruyères, Ruzard, Poussot); the Ploussard and Melon à Queue Rouge form the Cuvée des Docteurs. The Savagnin ages under a flor yeast veil: four years for the Réserve du Caveau and six to eight for the Vin Jaune Cuvée de la Confrérie, in a 62 cl clavelin bottle. At the Paris Concours Général Agricole 2026, four of the estate's wines won medals, three of them gold; the Trousseau Nonceau appears year after year among the highest-rated wines in the Guide Hachette.