Eau de Gentiane Blanche Hermès 2009

Honestly, who knows the smell of gentian from his own experience? Me too, I never smelled this alpine flower, but I know its taste! Gentian or “Enzian” is also the name of a sort of liquor which is popular in the European Alps. And yes, Mr. Ellena did very well in transferring this into a perfume!

Gentian has quite a unique scent/taste and is not easy to describe: there is an acerbic, lean spiciness reminiscent of gin, a hint of flour or grain like vodka but also herbal aspects and something earthy, like wet sand. Outside the Alpine region Enzian seems to be widely unknown, unlike the complete assortment of Eau de Vies. Enzian is not a noble brandy, and it can be harsh. And its image is very Bavarian and Alpine, providing impressions of natives in traditional leather breeches, congregating in wooden chalets to play their family music, eat rustic food and drink Enzian. This is all very popular with the (American) tourists, but for us, it also stands for narrow-mindedness and political conservatism. In a way, Bavaria is for Germany what Texas is for the US.

Eau de Gentiane Blanche, however, does not have lots in common with that image. The gentian scent is surely there, but the character is completely different. This gentian note is refined and discreet, without any sharpness, a nice alternative for all who like juniper or gin notes in perfume. Eau de Gentiane Blanche gives me the impression that it was drawn with a steady and calm hand. To a certain extent, its refinement is caused by the circumstance that the perfumer decided to use a rather high dilution. It is really an “Eau”, with a longevity limited to about four hours.

In this case, this is just like it should be. There are fragrance notes that one would feel at home with throughout the whole day – and there are others that are equally bodacious but would get on one’s nerves after a few hours. For me, certain spicy notes like fennel, aniseed, juniper and obviously gentian as well belong to that category.

Within Hermès’ Eau series, Eau de Gentiane Blanche is the ugly duckling. Being presented in the same bottle as the Eau d’Orange Vert and Eau de Pamplemousse Rose fragrances, these grand perfumes outshine Eau de Gentiane Blanche by far. No southern skies, but also no impressive alpine glaciers come to my mind. Instead, it gives my impressions of copy paper. The modern employee who is surrounded by scents of toner rather than fresh mountain air simply cannot avoid developing an emotional relation to that as well.

So, Eau de Gentiane Blanche is a very good every day office scent. It can add some spiciness to a boring working day. For me, it stands in a row with a number of lean perfumes that seem to have similar concepts: Gucci’s discontinued “Rush for Men”, Ronaldo Esper’s pencil fragrance “Graphite”, or the transparent “Kenzoair”.

However, the usability of Eau de Gentiane Blanche is somewhat limited. Please keep in mind it basically smells like regional specific liquor, so do not wear it in Bavarian offices!