Gourmand · Accord · Top notes, Heart notes, Base notes
Cognac
Cognac is a perfume note that recreates the smell of cognac, a brandy from the Cognac area of France, distilled from white wine and aged in oak casks. It smells warm, like dried fruit, oak, vanilla and a little spice. In perfume, cognac is an accord and usually sits in the top or base.
· Written by the FRAG team
What does cognac smell like in perfume?
Cognac in perfume smells like dried fruit, raisins and ripe grapes wrapped in oak, vanilla and a little caramel. The opening has a warm, slightly sharp feel often called boozy, which fades into sweet dried fruit and wood.
Compared with rum, cognac smells more of grapes and wood and less of sugar. Compared with whiskey, it is less smoky. That is why perfumers use cognac for a warm, dried-fruit effect that still feels clean.
How is a cognac note made?
Cognac in perfume is an accord. Perfumers build it from fragrance materials, without using the drink itself. The scent comes from dried-fruit esters, vanillin, oak lactone, a little clove-like eugenol and other materials that suggest brandy.
The name cognac is reserved for brandy from the area around the town of Cognac in France. White wine is distilled twice and then aged for years in oak casks, and those casks give the vanilla and wood notes that the cognac accord in perfume imitates.
Cognac in a perfume
Cognac can appear in the top notes as a warm, fruity opening, or in the base as a lingering impression of wood and dried fruit. The accord makes a sweet perfume feel more grown-up and less like candy.
Cognac is often joined by vanilla and tonka bean for a sweet style, oak and tobacco for a darker one, and cinnamon and plum for spice and fruit. It also works with fruit such as peach, which makes the opening fresher.
When to wear a perfume with cognac
Cognac in the base with vanilla and woods feels warm and dense, so it suits evenings and air-conditioned rooms. If cognac only appears in the opening alongside fresh fruit such as peach, the perfume is still comfortable during the day.
