Bottles of wine believed to be among the oldest in the world are to go on sale at auction in France this month.

Three bottles of 1774 vin jaune from the Jura region of eastern France, known as “the wine of kings and the king of wines”, are listed at up to €20,000 (£17,600) each but could fetch almost double that.

The 87cl bottles have been carefully guarded by several generations of descendants of Pierre Vercel, a celebrated 17th-century winemaker, and are the last remaining in the family’s cellar.

In 1994 a group of wine connoisseurs, scientists and oenologists tested a bottle of the wine and declared it excellent, suggesting it should be revisited in 100 years’ time. It was described as a “golden amber-coloured nectar, with flavours of nuts, spices, curry, cinnamon, vanilla and dried fruits”, and given a score of 9.4 out of 10.

Two bottles from the same collection were sold at auction in 2011 and 2012 for €57,000 and €38,000 respectively.

At the time of the 2012 sale in Switzerland, Michael Ganne, the head of Christie’s Geneva wine sale, wrote: “Amongst the precious highlights from the sale is a very special bottle of vin jaune dated 1774 … Made to last centuries when of good quality … this extraordinary bottle is probably the oldest unfortified example of what is to be still an astounding wine and another true rarity for wine lovers and connoisseurs.”

It is said that the chemist Louis Pasteur, who was born in Jura and was a close friend of Vercel’s grandchildren, celebrated his entry into the Académie Française in 1881 with a bottle of 1774 vin jaune, then a relatively young 107 years old.

Vercel, who came from a line of celebrated winemakers dating back to the 14th century, is credited as the inventor of vin jaune, a type of white wine made only in Jura and similar to dry fino sherry, except it is not fortified. It is made and matured in a barrel under a film of yeast, called the voile, which is believed to improve its longevity.

As well as the 1774 wine, the auction includes 99 other bottles, the last remaining from the Vercel cellar. They will go under the hammer in Lons-le-Saunier on 26 May.