Red Vetyver by Montale

Russian version - click here

Red Vetyver is the newest fragrance launched this year by Montale. A spicy woody fragrance combining the notes of vetiver from Haiti, Moroccan cedarwood, patchouli, grapefruit, elemi, black pepper from Madagascar.

Red Vetyver opens with “wet” Vetiver notes reminding me of a fresh cut root or asparagus. Balsamic freshness of black pepper and bitter sweetness (Grapefruit-like) are joining shortly. The heart notes are spicy, wet and warm. I definitely smell a kind of anise note reminding me of “pickles” or star anise bringing some wetness to this perfume contrasting with the warmth of spices. The base consists of woody notes forming a precious wood accord and non-vanilla sweetness probably coming from resins.

The whole impression of this perfume is an image of sunset somewhere far in the jungle wood after the rain where the air is warm and humid and saturated with strange spicy smells. The orange light of the sunset falls on the red brown hairy tree trunks making them look like they glow from inside. It’s a Fire element born from the Earth and won from Water. Not a devastating recklessness of a conflagration. But a wise power of a ritual fire.

Red Vetyver bears resemblance with Terre d’Hermes, but has more character and power. According to other reviews this fragrance has similar notes with Red Aoud. I do like the spicy and fiery character of Red Vetyver as much as its base of the precious wood and non-vanilla sweetness. But the wet “anise” note is difficult to become used to. Personally I would not classify this fragrance as Vetiver, because its Vetiver note is less obvious than in Vetiver by Guerlain, Encre Noire and even Sycomore. It makes an accord with other woods and species and is not a leading note.

Red Vetyver by Montale

Russian version - click here

Red Vetyver is the newest fragrance launched this year by Montale. A spicy woody fragrance combining the notes of vetiver from Haiti, Moroccan cedarwood, patchouli, grapefruit, elemi, black pepper from Madagascar.

Red Vetyver opens with “wet” Vetiver notes reminding me of a fresh cut root or asparagus. Balsamic freshness of black pepper and bitter sweetness (Grapefruit-like) are joining shortly. The heart notes are spicy, wet and warm. I definitely smell a kind of anise note reminding me of “pickles” or star anise bringing some wetness to this perfume contrasting with the warmth of spices. The base consists of woody notes forming a precious wood accord and non-vanilla sweetness probably coming from resins.

The whole impression of this perfume is an image of sunset somewhere far in the jungle wood after the rain where the air is warm and humid and saturated with strange spicy smells. The orange light of the sunset falls on the red brown hairy tree trunks making them look like they glow from inside. It’s a Fire element born from the Earth and won from Water. Not a devastating recklessness of a conflagration. But a wise power of a ritual fire.

Red Vetyver bears resemblance with Terre d’Hermes, but has more character and power. According to other reviews this fragrance has similar notes with Red Aoud. I do like the spicy and fiery character of Red Vetyver as much as its base of the precious wood and non-vanilla sweetness. But the wet “anise” note is difficult to become used to. Personally I would not classify this fragrance as Vetiver, because its Vetiver note is less obvious than in Vetiver by Guerlain, Encre Noire and even Sycomore. It makes an accord with other woods and species and is not a leading note.

New still unnamed Vetiver fragrance from Tauer's perfumes

Russian version - click here
Image: AromaX

Today I’ve got a still unnamed new Vetiver fragrance from Andy Tauer. It was a gift to all his blog readers because of his third year blogging anniversary. I’ve smelled it before this year during my visit to Andy. But a short sniff was not enough to explore the beauty of this fragrance. I was very glad with the opportunity to do it again.

The perfume opens with a bitter sweet citrus freshness of grapefruit supported by a spiciness of clary sage. And than from the depth of the fragrance comes vetiver. It spills like a pot of black ink filling everything with dark, slightly smokey, earthy and herbaceous aroma. The bitter sweetness of coumarin from Tonka beans supports and emphasizes the aromatic medicinal part of vetiver from one side and from another side it re-echoes with a bitter sweetness of a grapefruit note. White floral and slightly spicy accord of clary sage and lily of the valley jingles above dark vetiver-coumarine ravine. Although the vetiver note is very prominent and present at the background I am not sure if it’s a vetiver fragrance – a very beautiful clary sage accord of this perfume takes a lead on my skin at some moments making the vetiver just to follow and support at the background. At another moments it surrenders to vetiver becoming just a soft part of it. The play between the Clary sage-Lily of the Valley accord and Vetiver is like a dance.

This fragrance is a primeval song combining low booming vibrations of Vetiver and alto female duet of clary sage and lily of the valley. The colours are black (vetiver), all tints of green (from dark green of vetiver till bluish and greyish green of clary sage) and white (Lily of the valley). Grapefruit and coumarin give some bruin accents. Those are the colours of the Mother Earth. It reminds me of a quiet primeval forest after the rain when the air is saturated with water damps and the earth is fertile. The fragrance is heavy and slow – it’s like a mist that crawls on the ground inevitably feeling all open spaces and embracing everything.

At the end when everything is said and done, the dry down is coming revealing the signature of Andy – the warm woody ambery base reminding me of L’air du desert marocain.

The perfume will be available in October this year. To be ordered at Tauer Perfumes

The notes (as announced on the fyer):
Grapefruit, black pepper, green clary sage leaves, brilliant lily of the valley, dark vetiver of Java, crisp cedar wood and soft ambergris with a hint of cistus and Tonka beans.

UPDATE I: What I found to be a spicy note of clary sage was the pepper - a lot of it, nicely integrated with clary sage and lily of the valley (so I did miss it completely). At my second sniff I was amazed how strong the pepper note was there - it opens with a pepper explosion with grapefruit and clary sage behind... (July 9, 08 9:20 AM)

UPDATE II: The Vetiver seems not to be Unnamed anymore. After long discussions and thinking Andy has come back to his first suggestion last nice - Vetiver Dance. (July 9, 08 9:20 AM)