Jean-Marc Brignot grew up in Normandy, in a family so passionate about wine that both he and his sister became winemakers. Elise has settled in Montlouis-sur-Loire, and Jean-Marc picked the Jura after he worked with Pierre Overnoy and Emmanuel Houillon when he was a student.

He studied viticulture and oenology at an agricultural school near Mâcon, and worked at Domaine du Vissoux with Pierre-Marie Chermette, then with Jean Rijkaert in the Mâconnais and in Arbois. After two years in charge of a winery in the Beaujolais, he worked for a Champagne producer near Epernay.

In January 2004, he acquired his vines near Arbois, a 4.5 HA estate at the lieu-dit Grand Curoulet. The vineyard forms one plot, with no neighbor around, and is planted with 2 HA of Savagnin vines of 15 to 40 years of age, 2 HA of 25 to 50-year-old Ploussard (or Poulsard), and ½ HA of Melon à queue rouge or Chardonnay du Jura. The exposure is north on a rounded hill, with a steeper slope lower and a plateau on top, and good sun coming from the east and west. The subsoils are mainly blue marls, with a deep layer of clay that makes it difficult to work in rainy weather (too soft and muddy) or dry weather (the clay dries hard as cement.) There is a lot of limestone rocks with the characteristic gryphea fossils of the lower Jurassic period (gryphea are a type of oyster) and in some areas hard slabs of limestone are close to the surface.

Until this year, Brignot also rented 1 HA of Trousseau on another plot, but the owner took it away because he disapproves of the organic methods Jean-Marc follows in the vines. Vines that have not been plowed in years (or never since planted, like the Chardonnay) give much diminished yields, thus lesser profits, when first cultivated. Brignot is trying to appease his owner, noting that the plants have adapted well, their roots have plunged deeper into the ground, and the top soil is alive with micro-organisms and earth worms.

Some of the plowing is done by horse, owned and driven by a friend, the rest with a light tractor, to avoid compacting the soil. The organic treatments ared done by pulverisation, certification is pending.

At harvest time, the pickers are instructed to sort very severely and to keep only the grapes that they would want to eat. The destemming of red grapes is done by hand, to keep the berries as intact as possible, and the pressing is done in old vertical presses. Next fall, the whites are going to be pressed in an ancient stone press that is being renovated. Jean-Marc thinks that this is going to enhance the fine minerality of his Savagnin and Chardonnay grapes.