Photo by Jan Masny©
Once in a rare while, I come across a scent so startlingly different, so strangely beautiful, that my mind doesn’t quite know how to process it for a few moments. Such was the case with Chatillon Lux Weinstrasse, one of Chatillon Lux’s Summer Series and a soon-to-be permanent edition to the main collection. Weinstrasse, named for the wine trail in the Missouri Rhineland, is described as “a traditional, rich fougère with a white wine grape top note.” To me, this is less a classic fougère, with its typically dominant lavender and herbal notes, than an uncategorizable hybrid where honey, florals, moss and an arresting white burgundy grape note tumble over each other, shifting places unexpectedly like multicoloured flecks in a kaleidoscope.
Ghatillon Weinstrasse from Shawn for this review
If you’ve ever bitten into a white wine grape off the vine, you’ll recognize that top note: bittersweet, punchy juice with a flowery edge. It is almost immediately embraced by a syrupy dollop of wild honey. For a while, these two scents volley back and forth with each other at a leisurely pace. Then, an acerbic, forest oakmoss rushes forward to crash the party adding a sharp, woodsy greenness. Before you know it, they’re falling all over each other. And yet, somehow, these disparate notes work cohesively together, accentuating each other like musical counterpoints. The combination of bitter, luscious, and dry fruity aromas is so immediately quirky and addictive, that I’d be telling you to rush out and buy a sample even if Chatillon Luxe Weinstrasse stopped in its tracks right here. But it doesn’t.
Shawn Maher of Chatillon Lux
Floral and fruity notes continue to dance their way in. A distinctive characteristic of Weinstrasse is the way perfumer and creative director Shawn Maher pairs complementary notes and then then zings them off opposite aromas, provide a changeable array of contrasts that merge and part, then merge again. The bittersweetness of the grape bounces off of rich honey and immortelle (helichrysum) in the opening; coumarin and iris, with their sweet, dairy undertones, contrasts with tangy blackcurrant in the middle; herbaceous lavender and loamy oakmoss marry while providing a foil for the soapy, clean musk in the dry-down. An hour later, I smell immortelle one moment, grape and oakmoss the next. A few minutes later, it’s honey and lavender.
via tumblr
While the vinous note at the top is likely to draw comparisons with Rubini’s remarkable Fundamental, Chatillon Lux Weinstrasse is very different. Fundamental moves down a dustier, denser, greener path at a slow pace into dusk. Weinstrasse travels lightly, skipping its way down the Missouri Rhineland trail without a backward glance. Lovely, strange and memorable, if you try one perfume from Chatillon Lux this summer, make it this one. It’s one of the most original perfumes this year.
Notes: white grape, honeysuckle, iris, blackcurrant bud, lavender, helichrysum, sandalwood, coumarin, oak moss, musk.
Disclaimer: Sample of Chatillon Lux Weinstrasse graciously provided by Chatillon Lux. My opinions are my own.
– Lauryn Beer, Senior Editor
Thanks to the generosity of Chatillon Lux, we have a 60 ml bottle for one registered reader in the U.S, (you must register or your comment will be ineligible) which will become available in September, so this is an avant premier EDT bottle which depending on the timing may not be labeled as we had the wonderful opportunity to preview this. To be eligible, please leave a comment saying what appeals to you about Chatillon Lux Weinstrasse based on Lauryn’s review and whether you have tried any Chatillon Lux fragrances. Draw closes 8/6/2019.
Shawn Maher of Chatillon Lux was the 139th American Perfumer in our series which now numbers 145
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