What Does Coltura Promiscua Mean?

There’s nothing new under the sun about wine. Many decades ago, Coltura Promiscua was popular, and just like fashion, it’s having another IT moment.

Particularly, it’s having a popular resurgence because it’s necessary to feed the local population using homegrown crops rather than exporting foods.

What Does Coltura Promiscua Mean?

Coltura Promiscua translates to mixed breeding. It’s sort of like running a sanctuary for animals. Wine grapes, grains, olives, vegetables, and fruit trees, are grown on the same farmland.

The benefit of Coltura Promiscua is that it reduces the chances that one of the farmer’s crops will be lost to pests, climatic events, pathogens, and insects destroying crops.

However, Coltura Promiscua does require a larger workforce due to the size and type of plants found on the farmland. Therefore, Coltura Promiscua can be seen as a benefit because it creates more jobs and uses less machinery.

Unfortunately, when farming machinery was introduced, most folks abandoned Coltura Promiscua due to the shrubs and trees interrupting the movement of the machines. Therefore, the shrubs and other plants were removed to accommodate the machines.

Nevertheless, Coltura Promiscua still remained prominent in certain provinces of Portugal and Italy.

Why Is Coltura Promiscua Important?

Although some folks may think Coltura Promiscua is outdated, it is necessary. It is a complex, dimensional farming technique that can feed people and animals. 

It also gives us staple foods like grains and specialty products like wines or olives, which increases regional biodiversity. Furthermore, Coltura Promiscua does not need any chemicals or fancy technology. 

In contrast, 21st-century farming comes from a Roman plantation system. Unfortunately, this system is contingent upon slave labor. Furthermore, farming techniques depend on monocultures as well as unstable crops that don’t always produce as much as expected.

Coltura Promiscua is based on the indigenous forest gardens found in Europe before the age of farming began. 

Why Is Coltura Promiscua Important in Wine Making?

The perfect example of Coltura Promiscua in the winemaking world is olives and grapes. Olives and grapes are like siblings.

Olives are actually grown in and around the perimeter of vineyards for many years. One of these reasons is climate. Olive trees can shelter grape trees from strong winds that may affect pollination. 

Both crops are self-pollinating. Both plants produce fine pollen that can be transported easily by dry or wet weather. So, there is no need for insects or birds to carry crops from plant to plant.

Additionally, mildly wet winters supply both plants with the moisture they need to sustain them during the warm, hot summers. Moisture is necessary for flowering and fruiting.

Both olives and grapes are dry-farmed. However, grapes are more lenient with moisture. Olives are versatile, so the plants must intersect with the grapes.

Coltura Promiscua is also necessary for winemaking because it can make grapes resistant to Pyllorexia. Pyllorexia is grape vines that are infected with insects. It affects grapes no matter where they are grown, so Coltura Promiscua truly is beneficial to the world of winemaking.

Final Thoughts

Just like I told you, there is nothing new under the sun about winemaking. Coltura Promiscua was once thought to be a dead technique. However, it’s making a comeback, so be sure to grab a bottle of locally sourced wine made using this technique the next time you visit your local vineyard.