On Vanilla; Colombian and Otherwise

 Colombia, Vanilla’s New Production Hub in the World

A speech given during the Barcelona Perfumery Congress last year by Ricardo Ramos, Independent Perfumer of Colombian Origin based in Granada/Spain.

"With an estimation of more than 4300 species of orchids, Colombia is a country with a major diversity of this beautiful botanical species in the world, having more than its 35% native from Colombian territory. The existence of Vanilla in Colombian territory has been ancestrally known among farmers and indigenous communities, being used by a few expert coffee farmers in their coffee plantations, adding it to the coffee beans as an aromatic, sophisticated twist. And among indigenous communities as well, as a tool for seduction, for scenting their clothing, and for making fragrant necklaces (Otapa) and garlands to attract lovers, as mentioned by the Jesuit monks in the 17th Century.

"Some of the very first well-documented vanilla species in Colombia date from The Royal Botanical Expedition to New Granada headed by José Celestino Mutis between 1783 and 1816, and years after that, the British Colonel J.P. Hamilton documented in his “Travels through the interior provinces of Colombia” published in 1827, the existence of abundant fragrant Vanilla species along the
Magdalena and the Cauca River basins. Later, during the nineteenth century, Colombian, North American, and Spaniard botanists recorded the existence of vanilla species in the provinces of Valle, Cauca, Cundinamarca, Tolima, and Huila.
During the XX Century, with the development and commercialization of synthetic Vanilla, the interest in natural Vanilla progressively disappeared, allowing the vanilla plants to be destroyed, becoming a product for very local use in countless communities.
Recently, in the current XXI Century, due to the high demand for vanilla in the world and the difficulty of its production and exploitation, interest in wild vanilla has been reborn in Colombia, with recent studies on the species surviving in the Pacific and Amazonian areas.

"The Universidad Nacional of Colombia (UNAL) started a project in 2015, doing research about the spices in the Pacific area,
starting from the shore coast of the Cauca province up to the coast shores in the Choco province, documenting the existence of nine native vanilla species, including the most commercial in the world: Vanilla Planifolia, initially known exclusively from Mexican territory. The study highlighted the existence of hybrid species with outstanding and rare olfactory profiles, which could be highly valued in the global food and cosmetics industries. In the Colombian Pacific, factors like natural pollination, the abundance of water, and the humid climate encourage its growth, resulting in the first flowers after a year and eight months, which means 2.5 years in total for having fruits. This is a shorter period compared to productions in Mexico, Madagascar, and China, because in those regions they must wait up to three years to have the first blooming and nine more months for the first fruits.

In recent years, in the Cauca Valley region, the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Cali and the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Palmira and Medellín Campuses, have increased the study of the vanilla orchid across biodiversity, agroecology, conservation, and sustainable use. Currently, thanks to the agreement signed with SWISSAID ( Swiss Foundation for Development Cooperation) Colombia, the UNAL Medellín Headquarters began research to study the insects associated with vanilla cultivation in Bahía Solano, where SWISSAID started a project to stimulate vanilla as a local development product that generates income for indigenous and Afro-descendant communities, through training on effective crop management. The project, which began in 2016 with 18 producers in the area, today has more than 200 farmers and has materialized in the community company Aromas y Sabores, which carries out the entire process of purchasing, collecting, curing, and marketing vanilla."

Inkera, the latest creation by Colombian perfumer Ricardo Ramos, is therefore an ode to the relationship between vanilla and the Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities of the Colombian Pacific, as well as a vehicle for introducing Colombian vanilla to the world.

Inkera is the first perfume to feature Colombian vanilla in its formulation, specifically from the Chocó region, home to *Vanilla planifolia* agroforestry crops tended by ancestral Emberá communities and Afro-descendant families.

In addition to vanilla, the fragrance features a *Viche* liquor accord, a traditional artisanal spirit from Colombian Pacific communities made from fermented green sugarcane juice. Historically used as a medicinal tonic for stomach ailments and snakebites, *Viche* lends the fragrance green, jungle-like tones, the sweetness of cane honey, and mineral and subtle marine nuances. Another ingredient making its perfumery debut in Inkera is Pipilongo (*Piper tuberculatum*), an ancestral long pepper also native to the Colombian Pacific; it offers sparkling nuances reminiscent of petitgrain with woody depth, alongside a warm, zesty, spicy heat. 

Annick Goutal Nuit et Confidences: fragrance review

Nuit et Confidences is the most typically sensual, sweet, and stereotypically "evening" of the series originally named Oiseaux de Nuit and later renamed Les Parfums de Géraldine, after the moniker Annick Goutal took in her 1970s modelling years. Nevertheless it is not the darkest one -that is rightfully Tenue de Soirée which I reviewed here.

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Drunk (as in intoxicating, for lovers) vanilla forms the heart of the fragrance, soaked in rum and with a slightly almondy marzipan texture at the edges of this fragrance's spectrum. It is set with white jasmine, more innocent than carnal. I'd call Goutal's Nuit et Confidences a cross between rich, multifaceted vanillas like Spiritueuse Double Vanille (Guerlain) and the darkness of Eau Duelle (Diptyque). It is intended for occasions when a lack of imagination is required. This trait almost promises a best seller, and yet it was not meant to be. However, it is like a topaz in gold-bronze tones, suggesting the diamond qualities of a diamond in cognac tones: even if it does not approach the mentioned examples in strength of character, it exerts its own attraction. 

 Like the moniker "nightwear" in the series, the fragrances do not betray the quality of Goutal perfumes, even if the perfumer-stamp of the first and middle releases, which established the "small brand for exquisite perfume lovers," has since changed from Isabelle Doyen to Mathieu Nardin of Robertet.

 

 Les Parfums de Géraldine, of which Nuit et Confidences is part, are available in 30ml (1 fl.oz), 50ml (1.7 fl.oz.), and 100 ml (3.3 fl.oz.) bottles of Eau de Parfum concentration at select stockists

Best Dark, Smoky & Boozy Vanilla Perfumes (Vanilla Series)

Despite "dark vanilla" sounding like an oxymoron, if there ever was one, the collective fantasy of just this trope suggests the dedicated quest for a powerful aphrodisiac; dangerous like a femme fatale, but at the same time tried & true like one of the few fragrance notes that can be universally picked with no great difficulty. Maybe "dark" is meant in the sense of sinister, a little evil, a little perverse. I can see that.

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Vanilla scents by their very nature tend towards the oriental fragrance family, more specifically the gourmand fragrance sub-genre, but this category of smoky, boozy vanilla perfumes with off notes of malt, whiskey, rum and pipe tobacco are more than any other marking their territory in the Orientals like it's nobody's business. For that very reason, they're recommended to lovers of resinous, balsamic fragrances who can thus learn to appreciate the merits of vanilla. If you always eyed vanilla perfumes as the bimbos of the perfumery world and considered yourself a languorous odalisque instead, this is a useful exercise, if only to divest yourself of certain prejudices; any material is pliable enough in the hands of a skilled and imaginative artist.

Guerlain is probably a necessary stop in this adventurous road; even master perfumer Ernest Beaux (working for Chanel) complained that his vanillas turned into creme anglaise, while Guerlain's turned into...Shalimar. 

The perception of darkness or booziness in vanilla versus chaste "vanilla" probably starts at the kitchen. In the United States cooking vanilla is sold as a liquid form extract that is diluting the white crystals of vanillin in carrier alcohol and other fillers such as burnt sugar (which usually color the liquid a welcoming caramelic shade). Furthermore, the naming of a certain type of vanilla as "Bourbon Vanilla" (after the Bourbon royal family of France who held a claim on the Réunion island where this is produced) further complicates the mind into believing one is smelling...bourbon whiskey!

It's here important to differentiate with amber fragrances (parfums ambrés in French) which, although traditionally built on labdanum and vanillin (a trope of the late 19th century), form a separate category, characterized by a powdery, softly enveloping and animalic quality. Both tonka beans and benzoin resin both have naturally vanillic aspects which are therefore put to the fore in that context. This confusion between "ambers" and purer "vanillas" makes no great practical difference to the wearer (one's interpretation is subjective), but it's something that needs to be mentioned from a technical point of view.

Here are some of the darkest and more suggestive vanilla perfumes you can ever dream of getting your hands on. Feel free to experiment!

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Cacharel Gloria: especially the body oil is a gloriously deep, nuanced vanilla (Though discontinued it's a good alternative to the super expensive Spirituelle Double Vanille -see below- and therefore to be pounced on when you see it for sale)
Dior Hypnotic Poison: a bitter almond laced vanillic elixir which is quite powdery. Cult best-seller, a bit thinned in recent edition, more of a fully fledged oriental than a simple vanilla
Chanel Egoiste: marketed to men, snatched by discerning women who like creamy notes of vanilla in a complex blend
Givenchy Organza Indecence: a spin to the original floriental Organza, this vanillic counterpart is flashier and has a rum & cola rather than a kir royal when out at night.
Guerlain Jicky: clearly this lavender fougere it's not all about the vanilla, but especially vintage renditions full of meowing civet make the note gain a mischievous facet that reminds me of the two faces of Janus (Its contemporary spin is Gris Clair by Serge Lutens).
Guerlain Spirituelle Double Vanille: THE reference for boozy vanilla fragrances, it encompasses all the treacle aspects of the genuine vanilla pods. But it's not about darkness, it's about luminosity, about sparkle, about golden incandescence, even if most would unimaginatively call it ...."dark".
Guerlain Shalimar Ode a la Vanille: a more approachable path to the classic of classics, Guerlain Shalimar, with more of a vanilla focus (Shalimar Ode a la Vanille au route de Madagascar and Shalimar Ode a la Vanille au route de Mexique are simply limited annual editions of the same perfume). Shalimar Parfum Initial is also a credible way to get initiated in the cult, as is (with a more lemony touch), Shalimar Light/Eau de Shalimar. 

Of course if you're trying the above flankers of Shalimar, it would be a great injustice not to sample (in all its different concentrations and vintages) the ORIGINAL bronze-skinned deity that is the classic Shalimar. More of an amber oriental than a pure vanilla, however its vanilla component is twisted, romantic, mysteriously creamy and animalic smelling. Just so.

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Indult Tihota: an expensive vanilla that mentally conjures chestnut brown silk
L'Artisan Parfumeur Vanille Absolument (previously named Havana Vanille): a boozy and tobacco-laced vanilla that maintains a precarious equilibrium like a trapeze artist
La Maison de la Vanille Noire de Mexique: a more economical alternative to Tihota (see above), it highlights the geographical variety (as contrasted to Madagascar)
Martine Micallef Vanille: a not-for-young-girls vanilla blend, rich and nicely boozy, quite polished in the genre. In fact, and said in passing, Parfums M.Micallef have a whole line devoted to vanilla (M.Micallef Collection Vanille), so check their variations out.
Mona di Orio Les Nombres d'Or Vanille: spectacular, dark vanilla, dry and earthy with a bit of rum nuance, its spices in check, masterfully blended
Patricia de Nicolai Vanille Tonka: tonka beans have a natural vanillic facet, which is treated with a smoky note of frankincense given even citrusier facets by the addition of lime
Perlier Carribean Vanilla Coffee: coffee is a natural complement to vanilla, its roasted side keeping the sweetness in check
Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille: if you always sought a sweet, dense pipe tobacco scent but came to "close but no cigar" conclusions, this Tom Ford doesn't disappoint; just be careful with dosage, it's very sweet and potent, though curiously enough not overpowering
Yves Rocher Vanille Noire: like its name suggests, a darker vanilla, really well done on Rocher's part and among their upscale offerings

Do you like dark vanilla fragrances? Which are your favorites?