What is wine perfume?
This isn't about smelling like your favorite varietal or blend. This is about how you enhance the odors emanating from your glass. To be honest, we had never considered that there may be a need for wine perfume. One of the cardinal rules of wine tasting is no strong fragrances in the tasting room. Our sense of smell is considered either the first or second most important factor in wine enjoyment. Strong odors can get in the way, right?
What if instead of getting in the way, you could use the right mix of fragrances to enhance your wine tasting experience? What an exciting possibility. Again, the intention is not to make someone smell like wine. But, could you formulate the perfect blend of odors, that, similar to a perfect food pairing, enhances and extends the olfactory pleasures of specific varietal? Here is a deep dive into why wine can smell like any number of things from wet stones to ripe cherries to flowers. The trick is to find complementary scents.
An innovative product from Kelly + Jones of New York is turning this idea into a reality. After a tasting room "run in", Kelly, the company's founder, and scent sommelier decided to challenge the orthodoxy. She was scolded for wearing perfume during a tasting. This made her frustrated since she loved wearing perfume and loved drinking wine. While she wasn't a wine expert she did have extensive experience in the fragrance industry, Kelly saw an opportunity that needed to be explored.
Here is how Kelly describes the moment of inspiration that led to wine perfume;
"But as perfume wafted from my skin, something curious happened. The fragrance notes were perfectly mingling with the wine, enhancing all of the nuances of the bouquet in the glass.
While greatly respecting the winemaker’s art, I wondered how I could break the rules and use perfumes to make the nose better appreciate the notes of wine.
I returned to my scent studio with 5 bottles of wine in hand, and sniffed and sipped until I created blends that perfectly captured the notes of each of the varietals."
The Kelly + Jones line now extends beyond wine perfume to include scented candles and soaps. The core lineup of wine-inspired scents includes Merlot, Cabernet, Riesling, Chardonnay, Pinot Grigio and Rosé. This a fun gift for the wine lover who THINKS they have everything.
You can purchase Kelly + Jones products, include the wine perfume, in California at:
Coming Soon: Chocolate Wine
