For eons, perfume has been banned from any place where wine is being tasted, consumed, enjoyed. As a wine professional, it is taboo for me to wear perfume to a trade tasting, a wine dinner or other wine related event. The same goes for people working in the wine industry, whether they are working in the winery as a cellar rat, enologist, winemaker or pouring at the tasting bar. Wine and perfume together…not allowed! Forbidden. Until now. I’ve been on a mission to break the taboo of wine and perfume together. As a Certified Sommelier, I love to pair wine with perfume. Both are aromatic experiences. In fact, without your sense of smell, wine (or any food or beverage) would not be as enjoyable, because your sense of taste really comes from your sense of smell. The tongue can’t distinguish floral from spicy, but your nose can. And, it’s that ability…
Learning To Blend Perfume – A Class With An Artisan Pefumer
When you’re really passionate about wine, there’s nothing better than getting an opportunity to visit one of your favorite wineries, meet the winemaker, and then have a blending session led by that winemaker. By learning the basics of blending, you can taste how just a few drops here or a few milliliters there of Cabernet Franc added to a Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot blend can make all the difference, one creating a blend that you don’t like at all to one that is sublime, one that you can’t wait to drink. The same principle applies in perfume blending, as I learned one recent Saturday in Los Angeles. I had met perfumer Sarah Horowitz through the Artisan Frangrance Salons held in San Francisco and LA, and I liked her perfumes very much. I’m obsessed with Perfect Coconut Milk and Beauty Comes from Within. When I heard that she also teaches a beginner’s…
A Fragrant Affair: The First Artisan Fragrance Salon
I am a wine lover, unabashedly passionate about wine. That I’m also a perfumer lover should come as no surprise, because I find them so similar in the way that perfumes have a top, middle and base note, and how wine has a bouquet, mid palate and finish, with both perfume and wine changing in similar ways over time.
So I was excited to learn that on July 8, 2012 a scentsational event will be taking place in San Francisco. The first annual Artisan Fragrance Salon celebrates independent perfume brands from across the country and Canada.
“The growth of the artisan chocolate market has really taken off in the last few years,” says A.K. Crump. He’s been producing events across the country called Chocolate Salons since 2007. “I think that we are poised to start seeing a similar growth in artisan fragrances.”