Wild Aoud
Montale (2010)

Montale Wild Aoud is, in principle, should be an interesting scent, as a mix of oud, tobacco, and teak wood, but it lacks power, intrigue, and balance on my skin, instead veering off toward an odd, stale sweetness like dried fruit.

Definitely slightly masculine and cold weather leaning, Wild Aoud is unfortunately not up to par on performance, and while Montale sets high standards for both projection and longevity, this is still a little disappointing.

5 out of 10

Where the wild aouds grow. Unlike most of Montale's aouds that I've tried, I do not immediately smell the aoud in Wild Aoud. My first whiff of the fragrance gives a resinous emanation from what is undoubtedly the Artemisia. It might be that the aoud note is buried in the Artemisia note, but then why not call the fragrance Wild Artemisia? I get a fair dose of bergamot and a lesser of geranium that seem to present themselves more as fruity notes than as floral, and I begin to suspect a synthetic note, which I do not usually connect with Montale. With each testing I do of Wild Aoud, the resinousness gets softer and the synthetic fruity/?floral note grows a little bit more imposing. This Artemisia is quite solid as are the other woods in the scent. I'm not sure I enjoy the accord that I smell. It's rather sharp and woody but it carries a very slight undercurrent of nausea-inducement. I can't account for my annoyance because I usually enjoy the likes of Artemisia and wood notes and others of their ilk. Now the big question: what is all this talk about Artemisia and geranium and bergamot and such doing in a review of a fragrance labeled "Wild Aoud"? MY POINT EXACTLY! Maybe the "wild" in wild aoud is like the "wild" in wild roses: the wild roses do not have as strong an aroma as many of the cultivated varieties have… So this wild aoud might be a wild variety rather than a cultivated one. Well, that's at least that's one way of explaining the serious shortage of aoud in Wild Aoud. While not unpleasant, Wild Aoud comes across as just another one of the several Montale-generic "aoud" scents that Montale has been mass-producing for several years. This particular aoud scent can't seem to even deliver the aoud… yet another Montale I'll soon forget. Pros: Decent, well-made scent. Cons: Something labeled "aoud" should most likely contain aoud."

I am a fan of Montale House but this one is not one of their best. It starts out with fermented apple juice and oud. This lasts for 45 min, then settles down to Montales signature astringent oud. Didn't give it thumbs down b/c it does settle down after a while. Get Dark Aoud to jump right to the dry down of this.

A dry and very masculine combination of citrusy and aromatic, almost minty, elements, some astringent flowers, a central moderate dosage of aoud and some dry woods surrounded by tobacco and ambergris at base. A more strictly  botanic-woody than a resinous one. The note of aoud is not aggressive and too medicinal  in perception because the dosage is well balanced and a bit restrained. A touch of patchouli is a natural evolution for a real manly concoction. The combination of artemisia, woods, tobacco and ambergris imprints that wild, rough, aromatic temperament that is a dive in a sort of deep, warm and sharp virility. Not as compelling as the heavyweights by montale but anyway interesting and bold.

Not as bad as I expected. While Wild Aoud doesn't stand out among the infinite offering by Montale, at the same time it's a quite succesful blend of woods and astringent (sort of citrusy) artemisia/geranium. The oud note is restrained and used to just add some boldness while the strong woody drydown enriched by a slight fruity vibe place Wild Aoud somewhere between Pleasure For Men and Assolo. Nice.

Aoud based scents normally ever grab my attention or gets praise but this stuff is certainly approachable. Straying away from the rosy death I usually receive from most aouds (which I don't like), I get more of a vibrant woodsy, absinthe fizziness with a slightly fruity touch. I can't ignore the fact that almost every scent Montale makes is aoud aoud aoud oaud aoud oaudoudaoudd agh jeez just stop with them already! Anyways, a fairly decent fragrance.