Category
Champagne
“Champagne is one of the elegant extras in life.” – Charles Dickens
The note of champagne in perfume is as elusive as it is delightful. While it is possible to obtain champagne essential oil by distilling the lees of champagne wine (the highly concentrated residue left in the vats after the fermentation), in most fragrances this accord will be reconstructed from other materials – fruity lactones, ambrette, juniper, davana and many more.
In perfume, champagne is a predominantly bright fruity note that can take on many facets depending on the perfumer’s intention – it can go from caramel pink to dry fresh green, creamy floral or even yeasty-mushroomy sensation. No two fragrance takes on champagne are the same!
The one characteristic that makes it easier for our brain to pick out champagne in a fragrance composition is a certain nose-tingling, almost tactile quality that the more naturalistic champagne accords have in common. It feels like magic, but perfumers can recreate the feeling of tingling bubbles rising up in the champagne glass through aroma chemicals alone!
In his book 2011 book The Lover’s Dictionary, David Levithan wrote: “The thing about champagne… is that it is the ultimate associative object. Every time you open a bottle of champagne, it’s a celebration, so there’s no better way of starting a celebration than opening a bottle of champagne. Every time you sip it, you’re sipping from all those other celebrations. The joy accumulates over time.”
The same goes for perfumes with a champagne note – all of them contain a bottled feeling of celebration. And every time you spray them on, you are smelling all the joy of the happy memories and future parties at once!
