Record prices for auctioned vineyards in Jura

n the Jura wine region, the market for vineyards “is small in terms of acreage and works on a vineyard block basis”, explains Frédéric Cautain, head of the Jura land registry department. Consequently, fewer than 30 ha of vineyards and vineyard land changed hands in 2021. When it comes to average prices, “year in year out, prices were on a par with the cost of planting or slightly above, with a price range showing virtually no change at between €25,000 and €35,000/ha for vines in good condition in AOC Côtes-du-Jura and between €35,000 and 50,000/ha for AOC Arbois, which is slightly more highly rated”.

But in 2021 and early 2022, at three legal auction sales in Arbois, the prices of vines and vineyard land scaled new heights, leaving local winegrowers perplexed. The cause was an inheritance that was dragging on due to lack of agreement between the heirs. “At each auction, prices doubled, tripled or quadrupled compared to usual prices. As these were auction sales, Safer could not ask for prices to be reviewed”, explains Cautain. And they reached unprecedented levels.

“At the first sale, the price of the vines rose to €170,000/ha compared to €50,000, which is the average price in AOC Arbois. For vineyard land, it rose to €60,000/ha, whereas the average price is €10-15,000”. The purchases were made by buyers from outside the Jura wine region “because no local winegrower had any interest in bidding higher”.