Comments on Vetivresse: Nosing Around in Scent, Wine & Style: Sous le Vent

L., Isn't there some story in the Decameron, like ...

2007-10-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

L., Isn't there some story in the Decameron, like "Laura and the Pot of Basil"? I remember a steel-engraving of my father's with a title to that effect. If you were at Union Square Greenmarket, we must have passed each other. But for the muffin-munching throng...

Beautifully written V, and as we all know, it is s...

2007-10-14T07:57:00.000-07:00

Beautifully written V, and as we all know, it is so hard to describe scent, it is like trying to describe emotion, to which it is so closely related.

Wonderful that you have found such a beauty that as the Quakers say -- speaks to your condition.

Coincidentally, I have been having a very basil themed weekend, after getting a large fresh bunch at the Union Square Farmer's market. Made some basil lemon lime aid and plan to chop up the rest today for the last of this season's heirloom tomatoes. All that fragrant crushed basil and lemon and lime juice on my hands has started to draw me towards the world of gourmand fragrance arena, which for some inexplicable reason I've been shying away from so far.

D., Thanks for the reference to Eau d'Hermès, whic...

2007-10-09T17:48:00.000-07:00

D., Thanks for the reference to Eau d'Hermès, which I do not know but have heard is quite "sauvage." I am interested in other scents which spark synesthetic responses, especially aural ones (which, hélas, I do not experience). Also, I find it interesting that you bring up 31 rue Cambon, whose iris-pepper equation I adore and which rests, spatially, next to Jicky, Kiki, Mouchoir de Monsieur and Attrape-Coeur.

I've never perceived Sous le Vent as a gourmand al...

2007-10-09T11:10:00.000-07:00

I've never perceived Sous le Vent as a gourmand although it has distinct cinnamon overtones. To me, it straddles the border between a chypre and a fougère (with the lavender opening): a hybrid of Jicky and Mitsouko. And oddly, it is also a synaesthetic, coloured scent to me, though I see it in intense sky-blue and "fauve". 31 rue Cambon is to my nose a variation on the theme, but with a more nebulous sky and a Parisian, limestone beige skyline. Oddly enough (again), the third scent in this trilogy would be Eau d'Hermès, which has the same cinnamon note... But clearly, Sous le Vent is a brilliant precursor.