Route du Vétiver
Maître Parfumeur et Gantier (1988)

I smell rhubarb. Not as strident as styrallyl acetate, more like rhubofix (Firmenich) with its woody aspect.

To my nose this smells like Carven's Le Vetiver but that actually smells better than Route du Vetiver since it has an added boozy note. I don't like this at all. It's too earthy and not in the good way.

2/5

A different style of vetiver fragrance. RdV does indeed open with a deeper, heavier tone of vetiver. Unorthodox in a genre that is typically sweetened or sharpened by citrus elements, RdV feels raw by comparison. There's no mistaking the vetiver in the first hour, as it's pungent and bracing. Some may pan the fragrance at this point, which would be unfortunate as RdV begins to mellow, turning into a buttery middle, revealing hints of wood and floral as the vetiver sheds it's raw elements. RdV does have aspects that conjure the tone of oud wood, playing through the heart phase, as well as hints of sandalwood and plum. I've always understood vetiver to have multiple dimensions and RdV presents a range uncommon to the market. Better than average sillage and longevity and in my opinion, a must have if you enjoy vetiver. Thumbs Up for me.

a very elegant, damp, skanky, juicy vetiver perfume..it is the only vetiver-focused scent that I wear, I think. Ive tried many vetiver frags over the yrs, and most of them didnt last long on my skin for some reason. But this one has...and in warmer weather, it REALLY comes to life.

I love it...and its hangtime lasts all day on me.

Starts bitter with vetiver roots that are dump and dark; I could also associate it with the smell of black soil and say that it could have oud in it, because of the dry earthy bitter smell. After about 20 minutes, the fruity and sweet blackcurrant lightens it a bit.
Going forward, it becomes juicier and after about another hour, the perfume softens even more with a flowery façade which turns it from this raw beast(which I love) to a widely wearable fruity-flowery vetiver. It changes dramatically, but it remains gorgeous.

I find Route du Vétiver interesting and quite well done, but it's with all the vetivers out there, it's not really my choice.

Vetiver as a note naturally has a lot of nuances, from brighter elements like hints of lemon and spice to darker elements like iodine and ink. Most vetiver perfumes play up the brighter elements by adding lemongrass and nutmeg, so we kind of tend to think of vetiver itself as a really bright smell. Route du Vétiver goes the opposite direction, playing up the darker elements. As such, I kind of don't like the assertion that it's a more "true" vetiver - instead, I would personally describe it as "contrarian".

So what does it smell like? Well, a deep vegetal, inky vetiver, with the iodine quality amplified until it smells rubbery. It's also ashy - not burnt or charcoal, but dry dusty ashes. The base is more of a surprise, as a cool chalky iris join the vetiver, giving the ash note a bit of cigarette smoke flavor.

As mentioned before, harsh and brutal and I get rubber!!

I purchased this as a sample initially after noting the use of the 'R' word by several reviewers here and elsewhere. In my mind that has occasionally translated into "why would I buy something that many people already believe to be somehow inferior "? In this instance I'm happy to report this wasn't the case and I ploughed my own furrow regardless and I'm one happy bunny as a result !

Now I'm not pretending to be anything like as knowledgeable or experienced as some here, however, I cannot begin to express how much I like this fragrance ! If this is a reformulation then I'm not convinced that I would have enjoyed the original if it were any bolder than this. There is no way the juice in this recently purchased bottle could be described as a shrinking violet because it most certainly isn't. Whatever the back story to this stuff is, if you're a vetiver enthusiast as I have been for over thirty years I'd enthusiastically urge you to try Route du Vetiver. Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier's take on vetiver is striking and unlike any other I've encountered.

Sillage is good and longevity for me is around 4-5 hours before receding into the background for several more hours as a discreet presence.

As for how it smells, I get November bonfires, white autumnal leaf smoke, wet decaying leaves on moist mossy earth. I also get a vague buried gunpowder smell but that may be conjured more by my bonfire night fireworks association than any actual presence of a gunpowder note. Imagination and memory do funny things to our perception of smells don't they . . . !?
Overall I find Route du Vetiver warm, inviting, reassuring and comforting, it mellows beautifully and gently after the intense opening.

As with anything bestowed with a truly distinctive character it will no doubt polarise opinion and what are in effect Route du Vetiver's virtues to one nose could be a vice to another . . .

Others have rendered the note breakdown far better than I could, let me just round up by simply saying I am unable to find anything negative to say about Route du Vetiver's material quality, stature or character other than I'm not a great admirer of the bottle design which strikes me as a little gauche - great atomiser action though !

Conclusion : regardless of what edition / formulation this 2015 purchase is - I love it to bits, enjoy every moment I wear it, and isn't pleasure what it's all about !?

If you are in any doubt you can always sample first, I got mine from those nice people at Les Senteurs (London) and promptly ordered a full bottle on first sniff.

The batch code on my bottle is 213062

I got my sample from this fragrance around a year ago from luckyscent and based on what I'm smelling and what I'm reading here, I'm quite sure this juice that I have is the reformulation!
(that was obvious though! it's 2015 now!)
I don't know about the vintage juice but this reformulation thing is just a HUGE letdown!

The opening of this fragrance is a semi fresh, fruity, zesty and green kind of smell that is incredibly soft with a little boozy feeling at the start.
The black currant note give the scent a semi fresh, zesty and slightly powdery feeling and there is vetiver right beside it to add more natural feeling.
The vetiver note here is not earthy, rooty, smoky or anything like that. it has more green and herbal kind of smell but very natural. there is some sweetness in the background too but way off the radar.

When I'm smelling this fragrance I can't stop thinking about "Creed Silver Mountain Water" because it gives the same feeling. I'm not saying that they do have the same smell but definitely the same feeling. fresh, fruity, slightly powdery and green.

In the mid that fresh feeling settles down and vetiver goes completely in the background. in this part I can smell a simple creamy sandalwood which is so soft and hard to smell. I have to stick my wrist to my nose to feel it.

Projection is below average and I can smell it for around half an hour and then I should smell it so close to make sure it's still there and after 2 hours it's completely gone!

Harsh, brutal vetiver with strong currants.

Genre: Woods

The word "raw" crops up a lot in reviews of Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier scents, and with good reason. Route du Vétiver is a very raw, honest vetiver, but that's not to say that it's simplistic. The bold and rather bitter opening that pluran describes so well quickly modulates to a very rich, earthy green that calls to mind turning up moist sod in springtime. It's the scent of soil and vegetation, but good clean soil with plenty of life blooming in it. Hearty woods and a bit of powder round out the heart and launch the smooth, substantial drydown

There's nothing sweet here, nothing prettified, but nothing animalic or dirty, either. Route du Vétiver is the sturdy smell of work done outdoors in brisk weather. A very fine scent, with good lasting power, medium projection, and many potential uses.

So far, this fragrance is my second favorite vetiver. At first spray it smells like wet grass but the dry down is magnificent. On me the vetiver comes out after one hour and I love it. It smells sweet, bitter, clean and fresh at the same time.
Beautiful!