The world over we see that olive trees and grape vines grow together. Please see Mendoza, Argentina, Provence, France, Zakynthos, Greece and Clare valley, South Australia . It is quite possible that linkages have been established between these two plants in ways that are not obvious to us today. These might be through pollinating insects that depend on one and help other, or through microorganisms in the soil that link them together. Directly, olive might be the support tree on which the vine (liana) climbs. Indirectly, the olive tree might moderate the extremes of climate so that the much less stress resistant grape vine is protected.

Is there any study of the synergy between olives and grape vines?

My observation is that olives and grapevines should necessarily be inter cropped. The Super High Density method (600 to 900 trees per acre as opposed to 120 trees per acre is an obvious characteristic) of olive cultivation enforces the vineyard procedures on olive orchards. Will there be any advantage in having alternate rows of grape vines and olive trees according to the SHD system? My feeling is the the SHD system over disciplines the olive trees and any advantage arising from the tree form of olives is lost. Thus olive trees under SHD may not moderate the micro climate as much as the normal trees. The olivineyard (a newly coined term) at Mendoza, Argentina appears to have alternate rows of olive trees and vines but the olive trees are not of the SHD system.

So can we have a Half Super High Density (HSHD) system for olives where the Olive trees are bigger than the vines but pruned at, say half the height of normal olive trees? The number of trees per acre would be around 400. Such a scheme will increase the productivity and still retain the tree derived benefits. Will HSHD be better than SHD for inter cropping olives and grape vines?