Nicolas Bernard of Les Miroudots: Vin de France in the Franche-Comté

On the limestone hills east of Vesoul, Nicolas Bernard is expanding the scope of Franche-Comté winemaking with Jura varieties and hybrids alike.

Nicolas Bernard began planting vineyards on his grandparents’ farm east of the Franche-Comté town of Vesoul in 2016, after a short career as an agricultural engineer and work experiences at Languedoc estate La Jasse Castel and with Alexandre Bain in Pouilly-Fumé. His choice of what, exactly, to plant in this non-viticultural zone proved decidedly farsighted: savagnin and poulsard, both in high demand nowadays in the Jura, along with a bevy of hybrid grapes lately being embraced in the Jura and beyond, including Léon Millot, artaban, souvignier gris, and muscaris. (Bernard also farms a small amount of syrah, gamaret, and auxerrois.)

In 2019, technically his first vintage, Bernard produced just three-hundred bottles. He considers 2023 his first commercially viable vintage, when his parcels entered into productivity and he produced between 20’000-25’000 bottles. (Frost and mildew regrettably devastated his yields in 2024. He produced just one wine from what remained of his hybrid grapes.) Soft-spoken and modest, Bernard often cautions, in conversation, that he is only just starting, as if to apologize for the simplicity of his equipment. Yet already he is producing noteworthy, characterful savagnin and poulsard, at prices that remain eminently accessible.

I first encountered Bernard and his wines at Salon Brut(es) in November 2024. Later that month I arranged a visit to his estate with my friends from Hokus Pokus wines in Ostrava. Bernard will present wines at the Vitus Batardus Liberata tasting on March 22nd in the Jura.