The House of the Álvarez de Toledo: much more than olive oil
How can we give you a brief vision of a family that has participated in nearly every event of importance in Western Civilization for the last thousand years? You may only know about the House of the Álvarez de Toledo because of the extra virgin olive oil they produce under the title and crest of the head of the household, the Marquis de Valdueza. With these words, we hope to show you that when you use our extra virgin olive oils, you are doing more than enjoying a jewel of gastronomic perfection – you are participating in a historical legacy that has probably already touched you in ways you may never have even imagined!
The Álvarez de Toledo family has owned the Perales estate where they produce their olive oils for a little over 500 years. The estate occupies several thousand acres, of which about 450 are dedicated to the Marquis’ olive groves and mill. About 15 years ago, the Marquis decided to modernise his olive oil production and began by replacing the old groves with trees of the arbequina, hojiblanca, picual, and morisca varieties. This last type is native to the Marquis’ estate and is only grown is a small area of Extremadura. It has very low yields and is expensive to use, but it is the source of the buttery feel that fills your mouth when you taste our oils.
The mill, inaugurated in November of 2004, was built on the site of a 150 year-old mill, which, in turn was erected where olive oil had been produced since the Romans occupied the area over 2,000 years ago. Only a few miles from Mérida, the Roman city of Augusta Emerita founded in 25 BC and overrun by Islamic invaders of the Iberian peninsula in 713 AD, the land, which today forms the Marquis’ estate, has been providing a coveted olive oil for caesars, sultans, and kings uninterruptedly for two millennia.
The new mill, when finished in 2004, was reputed to be among the most modern in Europe, as were the harvest and production techniques, which allow the first olives to be chosen and handpicked and pressed within an hour. The oil that results from this process is tested and the best is bottled as MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA. After a few more days of maturing on the tree under the Extremeñan sun, the rest of the olives are harvested to produce MERULA.
The first olives, greener and less mature, with lower, more costly yields, produce the sharp, clean, complex taste profile, which characterises MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA. This is clearly a finishing oil to be used raw, for cold applications on salads, toast, cheese, cold cuts, steamed fish and grilled meats and vegetables. It is also excellent on citrus fruit salads, and raw, steamed, and stir-fried vegetables, and there are several dessert chefs and cooking schools that only use MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA for their chocolate sauces and ice creams.
MERULA was born from the request of some chefs who finish their dishes with MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA and were looking for an oil with a similar taste profile for both hot and cold applications in the kitchen. MERULA, a little more mature with an open, subtle taste, fit their request in that it is based on the MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA coupage, but with a less taste-dominating blend that allows the chefs to combine flavours and aromas without overpowering them.
The MERULA blend, using higher yield, more mature olives, is also more economic to buy than MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA, making it the perfect every-day olive oil, whereas MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA can be reserved as a drizzling oil to finish that special dish.
Although MERULA can also be used as an excellent finishing oil, especially for dishes with subtle tastes and aromas, we tend to use MERULA in the kitchen and MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA on the table for that last finishing touch.
As the very stringent IOOC panel testing in Córdoba testifies, both oils have been rated among the best in the world. While MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA has consistently received 8.5 points or better on the IOOC 9 point scale since it was first marketed to the public in 2004, MERULA was awarded an equally spectacular 8.2 points in each of its first two testings.
Although there are many exceptional olive oils in the world and the great chef will always have several of them in the kitchen at any one time, our objective with MARQUÉS DE VALDUEZA and MERULA, is to provide the gourmet cook at home the possibility of having only two oils to cover the majority of their cooking and finishing needs. We think that we have met that objective and we hope that you are pleased with the result of our efforts.
As for the history behind the House of the Álvarez de Toledo that produces these two oils, let me give you the following brief and far from complete summary:
The earliest Álvarez de Toledo whose records I have found in my own investigations is Pedro, Count of Carrión, although his origins are very obscure. Some say he accompanied Alfonso VI when Castille reconquered the old Visigoth capital of Toledo in 1085, and there he remained as the City’s mayor and royal representative. Other accounts say that Pedro was a Christian noble of ancient lineage who lived under the Islamic domination until Alfonso liberated the City.
The Chronicles of the Reconquest, however, relate how Pedro, the son of the Byzantine Emperor, Issac Commeno, went to Toledo to aid Alfonso fight the infidels and it is this prince who founded the Álvarez de Toledo lineage. The Chronicles tell how Pedro, the Byzantine prince, also fought alongside Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, el Cid, and, later, after the liberation of Toledo, Alfonso rewarded him with properties and titles, that would form the foundation of the House of the Álvarez de Toledo.
By the time of the united Spain under Ferdinand and Isabel in the 15th century, the Álvarez de Toledo family ruled over thousands of square miles of different parts of the Iberian peninsula, including the Perales estate near Mérida.
Related to both Ferdinand and Isabel, Fadrique Álvarez de Toledo, the II Duke of Alba, was one of their principle advisors and participated in the reconquest of Granada in 1492 as well as in the decision to send Christopher Columbus to America.
Such was the relation between the Álvarez de Toledo and the discoverer of the American continent, that Columbus’ only legitimate son, Diego, married Fadrique’s granddaughter, María in 1508. The seven legitimate heirs to the Grand Admiral legacy from the union of Diego Columbus and María Álvarez de Toledo have descendents who live today in many countries, including Mexico, Cuba, and Spain.
Fadrique’s son, Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, was a personal advisor to Emperor Charles V and travelled with him to Flanders, Italy and the German princedoms of the Holy Roman Empire. Later, he served Philip II as his Army’s Capitan General in Europe and finally as the Virrey of the Kingdom of the Two Siciles, a kingdom whose rulers during its centuries of existence were always from the House of the Álvarez de Toledo.
While Fernando ruled Naples and Sicily, another Álvarez de Toledo, Francisco, did the same as Virrey of Spanish Peru. Francisco became a personal friend of Charles V and he accompanied the Emperor at his deathbed in 1558.
There were also Álvarez de Toledo ruling Milan, Sardegna, and the Low Countries as well as rebellious parts of the Iberian peninsula, such as Catalonia and Portugal, during the turbulent years of Spain’s domination of the known world.
Related to saints, poets, conquistadores, kings and Europe’s most powerful clergy, the Álvarez de Toledo wrote and continue to write important chapters of the history of Western civilization. Allied through marriage to Europe’s most important families, such as the Mantua, Saboya and de Medici, few Western events of any weight have occurred since 1085 without the participation of an Álvarez de Toledo or one of their relatives. Even the English Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, though his ancestor Carlos Fernando Fitz-James Stuart y Silva Álvarez de Toledo, the IV Duke of Berwick, shares the blood that runs through the veins of most of European nobility.
As great patrons of the arts, portraits of numerous Álvarez de Toledo, painted by artists as famous as el Greco and Francisco de Goya, can be found on the walls of the great museums and private collections of the world. Las Majas of Goya, for example, are an Álvarez de Toledo, as was the husband of that Duchess of Alba, whose direct descendents include today’s Marquis de Valdueza, Don Alonso Álvarez de Toledo.
One really can go on and on – there are hundreds of famous people related to the Marquis, such as Cabeza de Vaca, the discoverer of the Falls of Iguazú or Ponce de León, who searched for the Fountain of Youth in Florida with one of his cousins, an Álvarez de Toledo, or Leonor Álvarez de Toledo, who, when married to Cosimo I de Medici, personally bought the Pitti Palace for the de Medici’s, which today is the symbol par excellence of the Florentine dynasty.
Leonor was also the grandmother of another famous Álvarez de Toledo, Maria de Medici, wife of Henri IV and Queen of France. Maria was the mother of Louis XIII, perpetuating the Álvarez de Toledo lineage on the throne of France, and of Henrietta Maria, wife of Charles I of England, putting the Álvarez de Toledo bloodline on the English throne as well.
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You’d be surprised at the influence that the Álvarez de Toledo family has had on the course of history. There are little details of that influence in the most unexpected places… In fact, the next time you’re in Spain and you have a Gran Duque de Alba brandy, raise your glass to the portrait on the label – it’s an Álvarez de Toledo!
Grandes Distilleries Peureux annually uses some 10.000 tonnes of carefully selected fruit. In common with the rest of the sector, it is subject to climatic fluctuations and this average figure, depending on the caprices of nature, may be either divided of Grandes Distilleries Peureux, from the outset, was intent on preserving and codifying the great Franc-Comtois traditions of eaux-de-vie preparation (Kirsch, Pear, Quetsch plum, etc.) and liqueur making (blackcurrant, cherry, etc.), perpetuating its know-how. On the other hand, the company is committed to researching and formulating new products. In 1980, Claude PEUREUX and Pierre BAUD launched wild Morello cherries macerated in a light Kirsch syrup : GRIOTTINES®, a speciality product which rapidly achieved a worldwide reputation on the tables of starred restaurants, with patissiers and confectioners and in high quality grocers. In 2003, Griottines® were launched on the national market through all distribution channels.
