One Year Later: NEPS and High-Altitude Viticulture in the French Alps

18 hours ago

2 min read

A banner reading "Proudly Designed & Built in Hazel Park"

In September 2025, Exlterra and its certified installer, DPZ Drilling, installed NEPS® (Exltera's Nutrient Enrichment Passive System) in Fabien Merotto’s pioneering high-altitude vineyard, located approximately 4,000 feet above sea level in La Clusaz, in the French Alps.

One year later, the first full growing season with NEPS® is complete, and Fabien has now finished his 2026 harvest.

The system was deployed throughout the vineyard after a particularly challenging 2025 growing season. Before NEPS® was installed, Fabien lost 80% of his young vines.

The objective was simple: help the plants make better use of the natural resources already present in the soil and develop greater vitality in this demanding mountain environment.

A Strong First Full Season

Throughout the 2026 growing season, Fabien observed increased vitality in the vineyard compared with conditions before the NEPS® installation.

The vines developed well during the season, including the many young plants that had been replanted following the 2025 losses. With approximately 80% of the vineyard consisting of these young vines, production is not yet sufficient for winemaking. The 2026 harvest nevertheless provided a first look at the vineyard’s development following the installation of NEPS®, and the results extend beyond the vineyard.

NEPS® was also installed to support Fabien’s fruit trees, including apple, cherry, plum, peach, pear and quince trees. They too showed strong vitality and developed very well throughout the 2026 growing season.

Another Interesting Observation

Fabien also noticed something unexpected:

Before NEPS® was installed, damage to roots from burrowing animals had been an issue, including during the summer of 2025.

During the 2026 growing season, he observed no comparable root damage.

Building Resilience from Below

Exlterra NEPS® works entirely underground. The passive system is designed to mobilize naturally occurring nutrients from deeper soil layers and make them more accessible to the root zone, supporting plant vitality without power, chemicals or maintenance. For vines and fruit trees growing under the demanding conditions of the French Alps, that long-term support is particularly relevant.

The first full growing season following the installation of NEPS® already shows the technology at work. The increased vitality observed by Fabien across both the vineyard and fruit orchard in 2026 demonstrates that NEPS® is already supporting the plants in this demanding high-altitude environment.

As the young vines continue to mature, NEPS® will continue doing what it was designed to do: unlock the natural nutritional potential of the soil and support stronger, more resilient plants year after year.

Soon, we look forward to tasting the wine produced from Fabien’s high-altitude vineyard.