Grapeflower

Note Profile

Abstract

About

Grapeflower is the blossom of the grapevine, and in practice it is a fantasy floral accord rather than an extract. Fragrantica's own gloss calls it a fantasy floral built from natural and synthetic materials. Where a maker has defined it, the definition is floral over fruity: Caudalie builds its grape flower heart from white rose and watermelon. The real blossom, where anyone has described it, is sweeter and muskier than that, closer to the fruit it will become. The vector sits between the two and leans to the commercial sense.

Scent Profile

Floral leads, which is what every source agrees on and the only thing Plants For A Future will commit to. Fruity is close behind and is two claims at once: the blossom smells like the grape it will become, and Caudalie's accord is half watermelon. White_floral is the rose half of that same definition, soft and pale rather than indolic. Under those sit smaller things, each on one source only. Aquatic_ozonic is the watery side of watermelon. Sweet_vanillic is the extreme evening sweetness reported for V. vulpina. Clean_musk and animalic are the odd muskiness and the rankness Fragrant Earth describes, split because the source calls it both musky and rank. Green is the blossom on the vine. Boozy is the Concord wine resemblance, one sentence about one species. Honeyed is a trace.

ScentWheel

Breadthbroad

EnvelopeHeart · ~4h lasting

Family Floral, Fruity

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

Vitis flowers are small, greenish and open for a few days in June. There is no commercial grape flower extract. Plants For A Future records only that the flowers of Vitis vinifera are intensely fragrant, without saying what of. The one source that describes the character, a Fragrant Earth blog post, is explicit that the fragrant species are American natives rather than the European wine grape: V. riparia is rank but sweet, V. vulpina is extremely sweet at evening and resembles Concord wine. So the accord perfumers use is reconstructed, not distilled.

Usage in Perfumery

A heart note in fresh floral compositions, usually with citrus above and light woods below. Caudalie's Fleur de Vigne is the reference build: bergamot, mandarin and grapefruit on top, grape flower in the middle, cedar and sandalwood in the base. It gives a green-tinged white floral with a fruity, watery edge, and it is chosen when a rose or a jasmine would read as too heavy.