Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai (Photo/Digital Effects: Despina Veneti)©
“A single rose, it’s every rose
and this one – the irreplaceable one,
the perfect one – a supple spoken word
framed by the text of things”
(Rainer Maria Rilke, “Roses”, 1926, translated from French by David Need)
Grasse’s fertile soil and blessed microclimate, and the prosperous perfume industry they gave birth to, have deservingly crowned this French town as “la capitale mondiale des parfums”. Orange blossom, tuberose, iris pallida, violet, Madonna lily, mimosa, narcissus, lavender, thyme… they all thrive in the Grassoise valley that lies between the Mediterranean sea and the Alpes-Maritimes, producing some of the world’s highest quality aromatic essences. However, from all the plants of Grasse, none are more emblematic than the glorious Jasminum Grandiflorum and Rosa Centifolia. It’s no wonder that those were the first flowers chosen by Perris Monte Carlo’s creative director, Gian Luca Perris, to initiate the brand’s “Les Parfums de Grasse” collection, in the form of two beautiful soliflores: Jasmin de Pays (recently reviewed by my fellow Sr. Editor, Ida Meister) and Rose de Mai.
Master Perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena & Gian Luca Perris of Perris Monte Carlo
Barely a year after UNESCO awarded Grasse’s Art of Perfumery with World Heritage status, Gian Luca Perris’ timing is appropriately celebratory; even more so, since the perfumer chosen is none other than (the Grasse-born) Maître Parfumeur Jean-Claude Ellena. The latter, after his 2016 retirement from Hermès, has been making an increasingly dynamic comeback that has started with his 2018 Houbigant Essence Rare, and continued this year with the two aforementioned Perris Monte Carlo fragrances, as well as with Baliflora and Tuberosis for Laboratorio Olfattivo (Mr. Ellena is also Director of Olfactory Creation for the relaunched French brand Le Couvent des Minimes). For Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai, the great perfumer drew inspiration not only from his vast knowledge of the area’s raw materials, but also from his childhood memories of this coveted rose: as a young boy, he used to gather the blooms with his grandmother.
Rosa Centifolia botanical print & John William Waterhouse’s “The Soul of the Rose”, 1903©
Rose de mai (also known as rosa centifolia or hundred-leafed rose) has been thriving in Grasse for centuries. Blooming exclusively in May, and harvested only within a couple of weeks yearly, its cultivation requires patience and hard work, as well as precise, skilful hand-picking: using ancestral technique, the flowers need to be gently gathered the same morning they open; the blooms are gently divided into their individual petals, then placed in large fabric bags, which will be taken at once to the factory for extraction, so as not to lose anything of their supreme olfactory properties. There the concrete will be extracted, and will be subsequently bathed in ethyl alcohol to produce the precious rose de mai absolute.
Grasse May roses in various stages, from gathering to extraction (Photos: laterreestunjardin.com)©
Given the great effort required for a very limited production, many farmers in Grasse abandoned the cultivation of this iconic rose, enticed either by other (less demanding) crops, or (mostly) by lucrative real estate opportunities. From 1939 to 1950 the production of May rose had decreased more than 50%, diminishing even more the following decades; this supremely beautiful raw material became almost exclusively available to companies like Chanel, who are proprietors of their own fields in Grasse, thus producing whatever they need. Things have been recently changing though, and the irreplaceably beautiful rose de mai becomes increasingly accessible to perfumers. This democratization of the ingredient became possible after several farmers started re-planting the precious flower, under the aegis of independent companies that encourage them to do so by steadily buying the totality of their crops.
Picking May roses in Grasse (Photo: Hemis/Getty Images)©
Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai is a masterful recreation of the true aroma of blooming May roses – and this requires much more than merely using the finest rose absolute. Indeed, anyone that has ever smelled the latter knows that this dark, dense, viscous liquid smells much heavier, warmer, differently than an actual freshly bloomed rose. Mr. Ellena breathes life back to the absolute by combining it with three key-ingredients: rose geranium, immortelle and musk. Rose geranium, a type of pelargonium with an aromatic profile close to actual roses, fortifies the star ingredient’s floralness, and supplies some much-needed greenness; at the same time, it tones down the density and powderness of the rose absolute, providing the zest and brightness of a fresh, dewy rose. I suspect rose geranium also boosts the rose’s inherent framboise and lemongrass undertones, being overall crucial to the reconstruction of the perfect May rose note. Immortelle offers depth and earthy sensuality to the rose, enhancing its sweet, honey-like properties, while providing a solar quality and a light amber touch to the composition (there are moments I can almost smell the rose’s sun-warmed pollen). Lastly, musk strengthens the rose’s tenacity and opulence, while uplifting the fragrance’s texture; the musky base gives Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai the airiness and fragility of a trembling flower that has just opened. Soft but voluptuous, seemingly innocent but seriously sensual, Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai is more than an excellent rose soliflore: it’s a bottled experience for those who have never lived the rose harvest in Grasse, and an olfactory souvenir for those who have.
Caroline Trentini in John Galliano for Dior, 2006 (Photo: Steven Meisel)©
Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai is both a photorealistic, and an idealized depiction of the flower, in the same manner that an actual rose encompasses both natural, and poetic beauty. Not only does this soulful fragrance capture the fleeting magnificence of a blooming rose de mai, it further echoes the whole plant, the intoxicating rose-scented air of Grasse during May harvest, as well as the humanity of it all. Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai is the scent of a million May roses, and of a single one. The perfect one.
Notes: Rose de Mai absolute, Immortelle, Geranium Rose, Musk.
Disclaimer: I’d like to thank Perris Monte Carlo for my bottle of Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai. The opinions are my own.
– Despina Veneti, Senior Editor
Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Mai (Photo/Digital Effects: Despina Veneti)©
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