Juniper berry

Juniper is the scent of gin, and gin is only a shadow of the berry itself. Crushed fresh, the small blue black fruit smells of resin, pepper and cold mountain air. It is one of the most bracing openings a perfumer can write.

What juniper berry is

Juniper berry oil is steam distilled from the ripe berries of Juniperus communis, a hardy evergreen shrub that grows across the cold and mountainous regions of the northern hemisphere. The berries take two to three years to ripen from green to blue black, and only the ripe fruit gives the full oil. It is built on alpha pinene, myrcene and sabinene, which together give the fresh, peppery, resinous character that makes juniper unmistakable.

Where our juniper berry comes from

Ours comes from Bulgaria, where juniper grows wild on the slopes of the Balkan mountains and the Rhodopes and is gathered by hand in autumn. Bulgaria has a long tradition of wild harvesting aromatic plants, and its juniper oil is prized for its clean, fresh profile. The cold mountain nights and thin soils produce berries with a high proportion of pinene and a sweetness that juniper from lower, warmer places lacks. It is the smell of a berry crushed between two fingers on a cold morning.

How juniper berry smells

Fresh, woody and sweet, with a peppery, resinous brightness at the top and a soft coniferous body. It has a clarity that makes citrus feel colder and spices feel cleaner.

Juniper berry in our chapters

• IIParadis de BleuThe Leaves · in the opening

  In Paradis de Bleu it joins the citrus and herbs of the opening, the cold mountain note among the warm Mediterranean ones.

• VIIIRoyale OudThe Taproot · in the opening

  In Royale Oud it opens beside bergamot, cardamom and davana, a fresh, almost icy contrast to the deep resins of the taproot beneath.

A note from the atelier

I think of juniper as altitude. Wherever I want a composition to feel as though it has climbed above the tree line for a moment, I reach for the Bulgarian berry.

Questions about juniper berry