From One Parcel, Eight Generations
In Arbois, between Montigny-lès-Arsures and the town center, André-Jean and Héléana Morin tend 13 hectares of vines that nearly disappeared after WWI. From a single surviving plot called La Touraize, the family rebuilt. Today: organic 2016, biodynamic 2019, hand destemming with a crible, and wines of bare-knuckled minerality.
The Survivor's Parcel
The Morin family has tended vines in Arbois since 1704, when Etienne Morin first planted in the Jurassic soils. For eight generations, the family cultivated the land — until the 20th century nearly destroyed everything. André-Jean's grandfather, Marius, returned from the First World War deeply scarred. In 1922, he stopped producing wine entirely and sold off all the family vineyards except for one tiny parcel: La Touraize. The estate that had survived centuries shrank to a single plot.
Against the advice of Marius, André-Jean's father Michel began rebuilding in the mid-1950s, slowly buying back and replanting vineyards. André-Jean joined him in 1985, but for decades they sold all their fruit to the local cooperative. It wasn't until 2009 that A-J broke free — selling three of their 15 hectares to finance the construction of their own cellar, just off the main road between Montigny-lès-Arsures and Arbois. Today, André-Jean and his wife Héléana bottle 100% of their production, having reclaimed their family's independence after nearly a century.
"Bright-eyed and quick-spoken, Andre-Jean exudes infectious enthusiasm for his craft; his is clearly a mind that could never be satisfied plying his trade under the anonymity of the co-operative."
— Rosenthal Wine Merchant
Blue Marl & Hand Labor
The estate's 13 hectares are scattered across Arbois's most historic terroirs: Les Corvées, Curoulet, Sur la Côte, La Touraize, En Flandre, and Petit Curoulet. The soils are a patchwork of blue and grey marl, calcareous-clay, silty-clay marls, and gravelly marl studded with limestone. This is classic Jurassic terrain — Kimmeridgian layers rich in fossilized shells, giving the wines their characteristic saline grip and mineral backbone.
André-Jean obtained organic certification in 2016 and biodynamic certification in 2019. But certification hardly captures the rigor: nearly all vineyard work is performed manually. The team harvests entirely by hand, of course, but also manages the canopy, debuds, and tends the soil without mechanical assistance. Cover crops grow wild between rows, promoting biodiversity and soil health. It's a labor-intensive approach that harks back to pre-industrial viticulture — slow, painstaking, and deeply connected to the land.
Blue marl and grey marl dominate, with pockets of calcareous-clay and gravelly marl. The famous "terre de gryphées" — soil rich in fossilized Jurassic oysters — appears in several parcels. Northwest-facing slopes on sites like Petit Curoulet provide cooler ripening conditions, preserving the acidity essential for Jura's distinctive style.
All five Jura grapes: Chardonnay for the whites (topped-up style), Savagnin (both ouillé and sous-voile), Ploussard (Poulsard) for the ethereal reds, Trousseau for structure, and Pinot Noir for depth. Each variety matched to specific soil types — Chardonnay on the higher limestone plots, Ploussard on the grey marl.
The Crible & Purity
André-Jean's cellar philosophy is adamantly non-interventionist: never adds yeasts, never chaptalizes, never adds sulfur before malolactic fermentation is complete, never pumps the wines, never fines, never filters. Sulfur additions stay between 10 and 20 milligrams per liter — barely perceptible, just enough to ensure stability without masking terroir. Despite this relative absence of controls, the wines are unfailingly clean, precise, and expressive — a testament to fastidious vineyard work and impeccable cellar hygiene.
Perhaps the most distinctive practice is the hand destemming. A-J uses an old local tool called a crible — a wooden plank with grape-sized holes over which harvested bunches are rolled back and forth until the fruit falls through, leaving stems behind. This is the same tool famously employed by Pierre Overnoy in Pupillin. It's painstakingly slow, completely manual, and remarkably gentle — preserving whole berries for semi-carbonic red fermentations and ensuring no harsh stem tannins in the delicate Ploussard.
Ouillé, Not Oxidative
Contrary to many Jura producers, most of Touraize's white wines are topped-up in barrel (ouillé), preventing oxidation and offering a bare-knuckled minerality uncomplicated by the flor notes of sous-voile aging. This gives the wines a purer expression of Jurassic soil — crystalline, saline, and precise. Only two Savagnin cuvées see the traditional veil (sous-voile), and these are exceptional: concentrated, focused, and among the finest oxidative wines in the region.
Foudres, Tonneaux & Clay
The modest cellar — just off the Route Nationale between Montigny and Arbois — houses a visually comforting mix of decades-old foudres, well-worn tonneaux, a few stray clay jars (amphorae), and an attic filled with barriques of Savagnin slowly transforming under veil. It's a working museum of Jura winemaking technology, from ancient wood to earthenware.
Aging happens slowly. Whites rest in barrel for two winters before bottling. The Savagnin sous-voile sees at least 24 months under its protective layer of yeast. Reds ferment in open top vats with semi-carbonic maceration, then age in foudres and barriques. Gravity moves the wines — never pumps. It's gentle, patient, and deeply traditional, allowing the terroir to speak without technological intervention.
"Despite a relative absence of controls, A-J's wines are unfailingly clean, precise, and expressive — a reflection of his exacting, fastidious working regimen."
— Rosenthal Wine Merchant
The Domaine de la Touraize Cuvées
All wines are organic and biodynamic certified, hand-harvested, fermented with wild yeasts, hand-destemmed using the crible, and bottled with minimal sulfur (10-20 mg/L). The range covers both ouillé (topped-up) and sous-voile (oxidative) styles, with most whites falling into the former category for maximum terroir expression. Production is limited — the estate bottles approximately 50,000-60,000 bottles annually from 13 hectares.