Chestnut Wood
Note Profile
About
Chestnut wood is the timber of Castanea sativa, long used in the Mediterranean for wine and brandy barrels because it was everywhere and cheap. Toasted, it smells of dry wood carrying a coconut-lactone sweetness, a caramelised vanillic warmth and a spicy phenolic smoke. It is not the roasted-nut gourmand that the published `chestnut` note describes.
Scent Profile
Chestnut Wood smells of dry, toasted timber, seasoned rather than fresh cut. A coconut-like lactonic sweetness runs through it, with a caramelised, vanillic warmth alongside. A spicy, smoky edge sits on top, close to the char inside a used barrel. It is a wood note rather than a nutty gourmand one.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
ScentArt
Origin
No fragrance house is known to sell a chestnut wood oil, absolute or CO2 extract. What is known comes from cooperage research on Castanea sativa. GC-MS work in 2006 found guaiacol, 4-methylguaiacol, eugenol and whisky lactone in chestnut wood. A 2013 gas chromatography-olfactometry study of chips seasoned 24 months and toasted at 185 degrees C for 45 minutes compared chestnut with acacia, cherry, ash and two oaks. It found whisky lactone as an odorant in chestnut for the first time, more maltol and methyl vanillate than in either oak, and a high level of 4-methylguaiacol.
Usage in Perfumery
Used as a base wood where a brief wants barrel and cellar rather than forest: spirits accords, boozy woods, and gourmand compositions that need timber under the sugar. It sits close to oak. In a panel test of brandy aged in seven woods, chestnut barrels gave the strongest caramel and burnt notes. Perfumers who want chestnut in the nut sense build a synthetic accord instead and should use the `chestnut` note for that.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Chestnut Wood
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Chestnut Wood appears prominently.
No perfumes featuring this note have been reviewed yet. Check back soon.