Origins of the luque family
The origin of our surname is closely linked to the time of the Reconquest, and more specifically, to the 3 knights who accompanied Alfonso XI in the reconquest of the town that currently takes the name of these knights, as reflected below:
"Having taken possession of it (current town of LUQUE) Fernando III in 1240, it was reoccupied by the Muslims, who named it Albenzaide, until in 1347 Alfonso XI reconquered it."
In this definitive reconquest the brothers Luis, Alonso and Antón, surnamed Luque, intervened, imposing by royal concession the name of the nobleman who conquered it.
In this town, the aforementioned gentleman Don Antón, called "Araviga language", was settled. His descendants spread to other towns in the same province, such as Cabra, Castro del Río, Montemayor, Lucena, Montilla and La Rambla, to later spread throughout the Peninsula.
Source: Nobility of the Kingdoms and Lordships of Spain.
To know a little about the origin of these Noble Knights we can quote the following:
"The LUQUE family descended from the Goths, from where their children passed to the mountains of León, always being distinguished as Noble Knights and Dalgo de Sangre, Casa and Solar Sons." Source: Graduate Frias de Albornos (Manuscript Nobility, Folio 93)
Along with this warrior tradition of our ancestors, we have always been related to agriculture and the countryside and we can verify that as early as the 17th century (10th generation ago) our ancestor D. Juan Andrés de Luque Repiso, descendant of the aforementioned knight, had His position is more than 2,000 aranzadas of olive groves in Castro del Río area (among them were the Santa Sofía and Calabaza estates, cultivated by our family today), as well as 1,200 fanegas of extensive crops (Senda, Cazalillas, Chotón, Galloso and others). It also had a mill (Molino de La Dehesilla, 1680) for its own consumption and nobles in the area.
His son, D. Andrés de Luque Repiso, requested in 1749 his ancestry and certification as a nobleman and coat of arms, which was confirmed by Don Ramón Zazo y Ortega, chronist and Numerary King of Arms in two of the Kingdoms and Lordships of Catholic Majesty of Lord Don Carlos III, King of Spain and Emperor of the Americas. This certification allowed him to begin to be an official supplier of the Royal House and of the Royal Armies featured in the New World.
His great-grandson, Don Pedro Luque Urbano, was the one who most notably promoted our work in the olive sector, founding La Corredera Mill in 1850. His grandson, José Luque Jiménez, took advantage of advice given by his grandfather and moved in the early 19th century to the Florentino Sotomayor Mill, located on Los Molinos Street, where the family was milling until the Civil War.
In the war period and subsequent years, the oil work was carried out in an artisan mill, called Molino San Juan, belonging to Serrano family.
After several years working as general manager for the main Spanish company in the olive oil sector, the founder of our project, José Antonio Luque, decided to acquire in 1992 the traditional oil mill (former Ramiro mill, 1874) which is currently occupied by the OLEOCULTURA museum-restaurant. , and recover the oil tradition of the LUQUE family.
So we can say that, after several centuries of olive and oil activity, the culture, tradition and secrets in the production of true olive oil in its most authentic sense have been transmitted to us.
On our side, the new generation has recovered the traditional way of caring for the olive grove, much more respectful of the Environment, having completely becomed it into Organic Agriculture.
It was in 1989 when we started with the organic cultivation of our olive groves under the control and certification of the incipient CRAE (Regulatory Committee of Organic Agriculture), being pioneers of this production system in olive groves in Spain.
During the first 10 years we developed Organic Farming in our region and, in February 1999, Alcubilla 2,000 S.L. (currently LUQUE ECOLOGICO, S. L.) was born with the main goal of exclusively grinding olives from Organic Farming.
Currently, our goal is to help spreading Organic Agriculture and increase the assortment of organic products under the "LUQUE" brand.