Alfanak Cerise de Tlemcen, AI image by Nicoleta

One of my favourite fruits is the cherry. Sour cherry, sweet cherry, May cherry, late spring ones, all juicy, dark, red and delicious, they carry all the promise of the summer to come. And I love them even more now, in September, when they carry a different, bittersweet nostalgia and the taste of a summer already gone

The cherry is a traveling fruit that bears its key in its very name: cerise, ciliegia, cereza, all the way back to Cerasus, the Black Sea town from which, so history tells us, the Roman general Lucullus carried the first cherry trees home as spoils of war, sweeter loot than gold. From there, the little red round wonder rolled westward along the whole rim of the Mediterranean, taking root wherever the sun was generous and the winters were kind, until it arrived, centuries later, in the highlands above Tlemcen.

Mers-el-Kébir via Britannica, fair use

The metaphor of the cherry is a perfect introduction to the border-crossing, culture-bridging, heritage-carrying concept Alfanak Parfums has built its entire soul around. The brand was born in 2024 with a the quest of sharing Algeria and its Mediterranean tales with the world.

And there’s no better ambassador for that than Tlemcen itself, the “Pearl of the Maghreb,” once capital of the Zayyanid kingdom, sometimes called the African Granada. Here, Berber roots met Arab learning and Andalusian refinement, and the meeting left its mark on everything: horseshoe arches and zellige tilework, the plaintive strings of gharnati music still taught in the city’s old medersas, minarets rising over courtyards. A melting pot of beauty, and, as it turns out, one of the best places on Earth to grow the perfect cherry.

AI image by Nicoleta 

Here, up on the Lalla Setti plateau, named for the city’s beloved patron saint, the orchards bloom every June with what locals still call a fruit fit for kings – and Tlemcen alone grows roughly half of all the cherries eaten in Algeria-  and for years the harvest was crowned with its own festival, the fête des cerises, a whole town gathering to honour a fruit that lasts only weeks.

Nathalie Feisthauer of Lab Scent courtesy of the perfumer

Now, let me confess my bias upfront: I am a huge fan of Nathalie Feisthauer’s work, and have been since she rewired my brain in my youth without me even knowing her name. Versace Blonde, oh, that pale blue oval bottle tucked in its velvety pouch, stolen from my best friend’s mother’s closet that I bring up as the first benchmark of a truly femme fatale perfume. I didn’t even know that a woman had composed it, for a woman. I only knew I was forever smitten. Nathalie’s fingerprints are on bottles that I reach for time and time again – the delicious insolence of Putain des Palaces for État Libre d’Orange, the salty-mineral wonder of Eau des Merveilles for Hermès, the tender, heartachingly soft beauty of Zoologist Cow, the sheer joy of Puredistance Papilio (my pick for Perfumer of the Year, back in 2023), the hip dolce-far-niente warmth of LÔR Paris Oud Latte, the second-skin softness of L’Orchestre Mono Cachemire– and, fittingly, a cherry-laced Decadent Memories for Perfumology that already had me dreaming last summer.

Alfanak Cerise de Tlemcen, AI collage by Nicoleta 

So, when Cerise de Tlemcen popped up on my radar, you can imagine the enthusiasm – Nathalie AND a cherry, be still my beating heart!

The opening is a delicious mischief: crisp bergamot flicks the lights on, bright and quick, but saffron and clove are already waiting in the wings, so the very first breath is both sunlit and mysteriously shadowed. Almost immediately, the heart blooms open, mouthwatering: cherry and raspberry, plush and syrupy-dark, so round, so powdery, so perfect I wish this stage would last forever. I must confess – during the first week of wearing it, on holiday, I sprayed myself with reckless abandon, chasing that deliciousness until I was, quite literally, a walking cherry by the sea. A curl of jasmine sambac keeps the whole thing firmly on the right side of elegant – opulent minimalism, the kind Nathalie does so effortlessly well. The drydown is pure comfort-architecture: vanilla absolute and tonka, warm and boozy-soft, cashmeran throwing that suede-musky blurry haze, cedar and clean musk giving the whole confection an elegant timeless structure.

And if you frown at the thought of fruity gourmands, I hear you – BUT hear me out first: this is miles away from the sugar dusted maraschino-in-a-nightclub cherry of the recent gourmand gold rush. Alfanak Cerise de Tlemcenis round, with a glossy heart and a powdery soul – fantastic in heat, as it opens up all the juicy parts, but just as excellent in the cooler autumn air. It woke up my inner Dale Cooper – because this, ladies and gentlemen, this is a damn fine, fine, fine cherry.

Top: Bergamot, Saffron, Clove; Heart: Cherry, Raspberry, Powdery notes, Jasmine Sambac; Base: Vanilla absolute, Tonka bean, Cashmere wood, Musk, Cedar

Nicoleta Tomsa, Senior Editor

Disclosure: Perfume kindly gifted by the brand, as always, opinions are my own.

Alfanak Cerise de Tlemcen, AI collage by Nicoleta

Thanks to the generosity of Alfanak Parfums we have a bottle of Cerise de Tlemcen for one registered reader from Europe or US. You must register or your entry will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what sparks your interest based on Nicoleta’s review and where you live. Draw closes September 8. 2026

 

Nathalie Feisthauer was Michelyn’s Best Perfumer of 2021 , Puredistance Papillo by Nathalie Feisthauer of Lab Scent was a top 10 perfume of 2023 by Nicoleta and she was Nicoleta’s best perfumer of 2023, Rosy & Earnest Vanilla Rum Royal by Nathalie Feisthauer is one of Hernando’s Top 10 of 2024, Hermes Eau Merveilles 2004 by Nathalie Feisthauer and Ralf Schwieger is a CaFleureBon Modern Masterpiece.

Check out Nathalie’s Award Page for all the Best of Scents from CaFleureBon here

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