Rowanberry

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Rowanberry is a fantasy note. Sorbus aucuparia fruit is not commercially extracted, so what perfumery calls rowanberry is a reconstruction of how the fresh berry smells and tastes. Both sources agree it is tart rather than sweet, with a bitter edge that reads closer to grapefruit peel than to jam.

Scent Profile

Fruity leads and both sources put it first: 'bright, crisp aroma with a slightly tart and fruity character' and 'a bright berry-ness'. Citrus is the facet that earns this note a separate row. Forager Chef names grapefruit twice, once as 'the grapefruit peel aroma' a sauce is built on and once comparing the berry to orange and grapefruit, and Fragrantica's own prose names 'a slight citrus bitterness'. Green is Premiere Peau's 'crushed berries mingled with leafy green nuances', supported by Fragrantica's green apple comparison. Sour carries the tartness that every source leads with, held below a third because both describe it as balanced by an initial sweetness rather than dominant. Nutty sits as a trace only. The almond character is real but comes from cyanogenic glycosides in the buds and leaves, not from the ripe fruit, so it is scored low deliberately.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeTop · ~2h lasting

Family Fruity

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

Origin

No extraction exists. Premiere Peau states plainly that the fruit is not commercially extracted for perfumery and lists the extraction method as not applicable. The descriptors therefore come from the fresh berry, and from a forager's account of cooking with it rather than from any produced material. No essential-oil house or manufacturer source for rowanberry was found.

Usage in Perfumery

Attested once on Fragrantica, in the 'Fruits, vegetables and nuts' group, and absent from Parfumo. It is a top accent, used where a red berry is wanted without the sugar, in the same register as cranberry and barberry.