It was March 2022 when I have received an invitation from a Rose Distillery that I've known for some years in Azerbaijan. They wanted me to attend the Rose Harvest season for around 3 days, as well as give a workshop on Oud to a group of Grasse-trained perfumers & rose lovers.
Rose, Adventure, Oud? of course, I was in!
People who follow our instagram page must have seen the posts from that trip.
We were a group of around 7 perfumers who were given exclusive access and orientation to every part of the Distillery. Starting from the farm, picking up the roses, the collection, the distillation stages, and all the technical details that go in between (temperatures, pressure,...etc).
On one of those days, we were having a break at the distillery's Managing Director's office. The Director approached us with an interesting exercise. He proposed making a blind test of rose oils!
The idea was that we as perfumers smell and evaluate 6 types of (anonymous) rose oils, write down our comments on each in a discrete manner, without sharing any thoughts with others to limit any influence on opinions.
Each of us smelled, compared, evaluated and wrote our notes in our notebooks. We recognized certain regional nuances of some profiles and were blown away by some.
Mind you, we did not know which rose is which! So we were waiting for the Director to reveal more information on the numbers so we'd know!
"Are you finished? Now we'll reveal what each number represents, and only then you can tell us which one you liked the most!" said the Director.
The 6 smelling strips included various Rosa Damascena Oils of different countries/regions. Some which are considered as the highest standard in French perfumery and the fine fragrances industry.
To our surprise, the majority of us were really in love with 2 oils. I still remember their smelling-strips numbers. Number 2 and Number 5...
It turns out that number 2 was their 2021 harvest oil, and number 5 was their 2020 oil!
What differentiates this distillery's rose in terms of profile are a number of points:
Balance: Some rose ottos can be too green, some are too pink, and some are too powdery or waxy. This one however, is of a perfect balance that represents real rose!
Radiance/Vibrance: Usually, the more balanced and smooth the rose, the less vibrant it is. Some of the oils we tested had a comparatively balanced profile, but were as if they're in the background. This one is balanced AND vibrant!
Bridal Grade: This is a technical point for the rose-heads out there who are familiar with how rose is distilled. The Rose we have here is what in arabic called a Bridal Grade ( نخب العروس ). This means that this is the first complete oil of the distillation using fresh water, not pushing back the hydrosol back into the pot with yet another load of roses to increase the load.
->If you're new to rose, beware! having this oil as a first-reference to Rosa Damascena oils will set the bar very high!
->If you're a rose lover, your wish has come true! Now you can use rose oil lavishly like Arab Royalty. What makes it more beautiful is that it will be guilt free at this price point!
->If you're a perfumer, I'm sharing with you one of my personal all time favorite rose oils at a very good rate.