Green Cognac ~ EOApothecare

Yup. Another wee review for you. This time, it is something that I rarely have nice things to say about. Except that I will because this one's a bit different. What disturbs me most about cognac extracts is that weird vomity smell that rolls out the gate from the start -- hits the gag reflex pretty hard and doesn't entice one to continue sniffing. But for an evaluation, this is what is required, so I'll take a hit for Team Natural Perfumery. 

Green Cognac ~ Vitis vinifera, France 

And there it is, the dreaded opening, the scent of overindulgence in white wine and subsequent hugging of the porcelain throne; butyric acid and bitter bile and roiling heat. And then it's gone! Like that, the scent changes and smells of vineyard in late summer, just before the grapes are picked and hauled off to the winery; it smells of the early fall air on the west side of the county with crisp green, dry, dusty, tea-like notes of the field, and the warmth of fermented fruit's vinegary tang. A flood of memories wash over me; Sunday mornings helping to clean my uncle's bar from Saturday night's shenanigans, of the air changing in early fall, full of dust and honey and sometimes despair, of dolmas served up on cheap silver plate by now long-dead aunties who 'got the recipe from my friend'. It smells of earth and time, underground gardens, the soul of a lost culture. It is both sad and beautiful. 

I'm creating a perfume for a family member, a specialty fragrance that I won't ever make again, as a memorial to her father. The green cognac will go into this perfume as it embodies some of the characteristics that she is looking for.