Montale Paris

Brand Portrait: Montale Parfums

A touch of the Orient from Paris: Montale Perfumes

The oriental fragrance delicacy oud is on everyone's lips (and noses) in European perfumeries, but that was not always the case. At the turn of the millennium, the noble essence from the resin of the Aquilaria tree was only known to some connoisseurs over here. Pierre Montale is one man who can claim to have successfully promoted them in Europe. The perfumer has over 30 years of experience developing and composing fine fragrances for women and men.

Montale - a Parisian romance that began in Arabia

The perfume house Montale opened its doors in 2003 on Place Vendôme in Paris, but its history goes back further - and is inextricably linked with the perfume creator Pierre Montale. He previously spent years in the Arab world, in Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and Qatar. There, in the sun-kissed Arabian states, which are partly characterized by fabulous luxury, he provided noble and royal gentlemen with exquisite fragrance creations.

Not many details are known from Pierre Montale's life as a perfumer of the Arabs' beautiful, rich, and pArabs'l. No wonder: Discretion and secrecy have always been a matter of trust, especially with such highly exclusive customers. So, amusing anecdotes about the Saudi royal family can hardly be expected from his mouth.

Fortunately, however, he brings us much more valuable treasures from the sunny countries of Arabia: an opulent selection of divine fragrances, above all the fragrant gold of the Orient - Oud!

What is oud?

The word oud is derived from the Arabic term for wood. The essence comes from the bark of the rare aquaria or agarwood tree native to mixed forests in Southeast Asia. In the event of a special fungal infestation, this wood produces a dark resin. The precious fragrance essence is obtained with the help of distillation and has been used as a perfume for thousands of years; accordingly, evidence of the "black gold" can already be found in the Bible and ancient Indian Sanskrit texts.

Depending on its grade, the comparison with gold can be taken literally: Oud of the highest quality can achieve prices that exceed the value of pure gold. Especially in the Gulf region countries, where the noble essence is particularly popular, it was traditionally often weighed in gold.

Fragrant souvenirs from the Arabian Nights

After working as a luxury perfumer in Arabia, the native French returned to his home country shortly after the turn of the millennium and brought wonderful gifts with him: unique fragrance compositions, exquisite perfumery products for women and men, and the noble oil from the resin of the agarwood tree.

It is no coincidence that Pierre Montale is also known as the "French ambassador of oud". Agarwood essence is "ound in hundreds of his "erfumes. In addition, the perfumer's love for the Orient is noticeable in every Montale composition.

Oriental scent magic between Place Vendôme and Champs Elysées

After his return from the Arab world, the perfumer opened a new page in the book of perfume history and presented his creations in the heart of Paris. In the first Montale boutique on Place Vendôme, located next to branches of well-known luxury brands such as Dior, Boucheron, Van Cleef & Arpels, or the legendary Hotel Ritz Paris, he presented a new perfume label with exquisite fragrance compositions: Montale Perfumes. The perfume house later moved to Rue Pierre Charron, opening a boutique with an exclusive showroom near the famous Champs Elysées in 2015.

Parisian perfumes with oriental roots

From the beginning, the fragrant elixirs from the House of Montale were unmistakably inspired by the Orient. Each product carries a scent of the Orient. Fascinated by its incomparable magic, Pierre Montale creates elixirs of sublime beauty beyond short-lived trends, in which tradition and modernity flow into one another with an almost beguiling ease.

The vanilla magician

Characteristic ingredients in the fragrances are - in addition to the iconic agarwood essence - precious raw materials such as rose and cedar oils, incense, amber, and noble wood essences. The perfumer also has a special love for an authentic classic among delicious perfume ingredients: vanilla. More than 30 of his fragrance compositions were based on Madagascar vanilla (Montale: "the most beautiful vanilla in the world"). Several of the fragrances even have the "Quee" of Spices" in their names, including the spicy gourmand fragrance Dark Vanilla - o" Vanilla Absolu" in which Montale has refined the vanilla with sweet caramel, cherry, and plum notes.

Almost 150 dreams in fragrances

The olfactory fantasy of the Eastern scent magician is almost limitless. The sheer number of perfumes alone is breathtaking: the website of the perfume portal Fragrantica lists nearly 150 fragrances in its database for the label.

To select the best from this seems almost impossible. Nevertheless, we would like to present some remarkable fragrance compositions as examples below:

Two Thoroughbred Arabian Horses with temperament: Arabians | Arabians Tonka

Two powerful perfumes are dedicated to the "King of the Desert": a tribute to the beauty and temperament of the noble thoroughbred Arabian horses!

Arabians "celebrate the proud "horse's charisma and elegance with lavender, leather, thyme, cardamom, patchouli, agarwood essence from Malaysia, vetiver, rose, amber, and animal musk facets.

Arabians Tonka is a fiery homage to the thoroughbred Arabian Horse. Enchanting roses, sparkling bergamot, and the warmth of tonka beans meet the animal temperament of amber, musk, and agarwood essence.

Delicate rose meets sensual musk: Rose's Mus.k

She is the queen of flowers: a beautiful rose, kissed by the morning dew, in full bloom, gently caressed by a soft, pure muRose'se. When the aromas of rose and musk meet on the skin, something truly remarkable happens.

Totally coffee: Intense Café

The top note has the warm scent of freshly brewed coffee and a delicate rose scent. A vanilla-like note of white musk adds a heavenly creamy sweetness to the coffee aroma, giving the coffee an intense presence right up to the amber finish of the perfume.

Sweet dreams of the Orient: Sweet Oriental Dream

Sweet Oriental Dream: The name could be the headline of the entire life's work of Monsieur Montale. Or what else than a "sweet oriental dream" are his perfumes? In this one, he mixed the loveliest French roses with the life' sious temptations of the Turkish-oriental dessert" Lokum and dipped a "oble centifoil in honey-sweet almonds.

Sun over Capri: Soleil de Capri

This fragrant dream from the summer season is less oriental than rather wonderfully Mediterranean: with Italian citrus fruits, grapefruit and kumquat oranges, aromatic spice aromas from the Mediterranean, and a magnificent bouquet of white flowers, Montale makes the sun rise over Capri.

The Montale signature

"Exquisite raw materials are the secret of wonderful perfumes" - this is a credo of the Montale Parfums brand. Thus, only high-quality ingredients are found in "the fragrances, with the highest possible concentration.

The "Montale signature notes

But Montale would not be Montale without the typical fragrance notes that recur in its luxurious creations. This article already mentioned two of these key components (vanilla and the agarwood essence). In addition, a few other preferences of the perfumer can be identified:

Rose

Montale and the queen of all flowers—this is a wonderful romance. For him, the sensual rose blossom symbolizes the beauty of oriental gardens. Thus, he generously uses roses from all over the world in his creations: from France, Bulgaria, Turkey, India, and Saudi Arabia.

Patchouli

There is hardly a Montale fragrance without patchouli oil. The classic oriental plant fragrance, which is traditionally particularly popular in chypre and oriental perfumes, is obtained by steam distillation from the leaves of the patchouli plant. According to information and data from Montale, around 95 percent of all perfumes in the collection contain patchouli.

Flowers

The "floral fragrances" category is also a classic Montale subject. The number one flower in the Montale fragrance universe has always been the rose. But other flowers also find their way into the bottles. Whether jasmine, tuberose, orange blossom, or ylang ylang, the perfume creator is particularly impressed by white, intoxicating flowers. Incidentally, their fragrance essences are all obtained in Grasse, the famous (secret) world capital of perfume in southern France.

Citrus fruits

A wide selection of citrus fruits is also part of the Montale perfumer's range. They are often found in the top notes of the Montale fragrances, where they exude invigorating power, vitalising energy, and tingling freshness.

Iconic metal: the aluminum flacon

The perfumer's cans of the Montale collection also have a high recognition value: They are not made of glass (as is usually the case with almost all other industry brands), but of aluminum. Like the flower essences in the Montale flacons, the inspiration for this product design comes from Grasse.

Large aluminum bottles are often used there to store precious perfume concentrates. For Montale, the extraordinary fragrance bottles embody a "combination of luxurious modernity and the preservation of traditions".