The sweet smell of success in the birthplace of perfume,
yet flowers a staple in Grasse, France
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Phyllis MacchioniSpecial to The Plain Dealer
Grasse, France --
If you leave the Mediterranean Sea behind you at Cannes and head north toward the Maritime Alps, the road winds upward past lush vineyards and fields of lavender. Castles and monasteries hide in verdant hills and knock-you-to-your-knees panoramas appear around every bend in the road.
Then the pink, mimosa-yellow and jasmine-white fields begin to appear, colored by the thousands of flowers that grow near this medieval French city that clings like a lover's fragrance to the steep hills high above the French Riviera. You have arrived in Grasse, the city of flowers and perfume.
The narrow cobblestone streets wind past well-kept 17th and 18th century buildings, sometimes going through handcrafted stone tunnels that open onto large treed squares. The slight patina that covers the buildings is from the centuries of fragrance laden clouds that have floated in from the flower fields nearby.
Throughout town, large pots of fragrant blooming plants and colorful flowers hang from every lamppost. Blood-red geraniums, pink carnations and white Sweet Williams cascade from ancient wrought-iron balconies. The air smells sweet in Grasse, and it should, for Grasse is the birthplace of the perfume industry.
Along Boulevard du Jeu de Ballon, one of the town's main thoroughfares, you'll find shops filled with beautifully packaged fragrances. The posh boutiques sell not only cut glass flacons of delicious smelling perfumes, tasseled and beribboned and crowned with gilded stoppers, but cologne, sprays, fragrant soaps, lotions, candles and essential oils. Perfume and scents have been a part of life in this small town since before the French Revolution.
During the 18th century, Grasse became the largest production center for raw perfume materials, specializing in jasmine and rose petals. Paris became the commercial counterpart to Grasse and the world center of perfume. Perfume houses such as Houbigant (which still produces Quelques Fleurs), Lubin, Roger & Gallet, and Guerlain, which were all in Paris, based their industries on the flowers they bought from Grasse. In those days, an early morning walk around town would bring you face to face with mountains of freshly picked rose petals, vats of mimosa or jonquils or baskets of violets and orange blossoms, harvested in the hours just before dawn when the oil in the flowers is the most concentrated.
But there are few mountains of flowers waiting to be processed these days, and no one talks about the price of jasmine or rose petals anymore. Today it's the price of guaiacol, ionone and the other chemicals used in the production of perfume that is discussed over lunch. Changing tastes and the development of modern chemistry laid the foundations of perfumery as we know it today. Alchemy gave way to chemistry and new fragrances were created.
Today both old and new perfume-making techniques are followed in Grasse. This is where Chanel No. 5 was created and is still produced, as are many other perfumes and scents for top Parisian fashion houses such as Christian Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. The scents are produced in small, private laboratories scattered throughout town.
You can see how scents are created by visiting one of the town's three large perfume houses: Fragonard, Galimard or Molinard. I chose to visit Galimard simply because it is the oldest. The original Monsieur Galimard supplied pomades and perfumes to the Perfume Court of Louis VX, and the company has been making perfume and scents ever since.
At the Galimard factory I met Jacques Maurel, the Galimard "nose" or master parfumeur. Maurel is one of 50 in the world certified to make perfume. Perfumers are surrounded by hundreds of dark brown bottles filled with scents. As part of their training, noses must be able to recognize and identify as many as 4,000 odors and be familiar with the classical Renaissance techniques of perfume-making.
While you probably won't be able to get the formula for Chanel No. 5, a visit to the Perfume Museum, near Rue Jean Osola, will give you an idea of the serious chemical protocols that go into making perfume. While you are there, look at the collection of antique perfume bottles. Some of the lead crystal bottles, particularly those designed by Rene Lalique, Baccarat and Louis Tiffany, are priceless works of art. This is also a good place to start your walking tour of Grasse.
Daily flower mart like the old days. Just across the street from the Perfume Museum is the Fragonard museum, the family home of artist Jean-Honore Fragonard, Grasse's most famous artist. His large religious painting, "Washing of the Feet," hangs in the 12th-century Cathedral of Grasse, Notre Dame du Puy, in the Place du Petit Puy. From the Cathedral it is just a short walk to Place aux Herbes, and from there to the town's principal square, Place aux Aires, where you can relax and enjoy lunch under the large trees.
The daily flower mart arranged around the three-tiered fountain in the center of the square is reminiscent of the bygone days when the local perfumers came here to buy wheelbarrows full of rose petals and jasmine to take back to their workshops.
A stop at the Epicerie et Confiserie de Provence in Place aux Aires will bring you face to face with exquisite handmade chocolates and candied violets.
Grasse is an easy day trip from Cannes or Nice. There are no long lists of must-see sites to make you feel guilty about sitting, sipping a cup of French roasted coffee and people watching.
If you plan to be in Grasse for any length of time, the Bastide Saint-Antoine, is a good place to stay. There are only 11 rooms at this 18th century country house that doubles as a hotel, so you need to book ahead. All the rooms have king-size beds, and the hotel's gourmet restaurant is run by master chef Jacques Chibois, Gault-Millau's chef of the year in 1997.
There are several other good options. The Hotel des Parfums, located in the center of Grasse, is lovely and not particularly expensive.
If the weather is nice, take a ride in the country and visit the flower fields. The rose fields are open from early May to mid-June. The jasmine fields are open from July to October. Reservations are necessary and can be made by the Grasse Tourist Bureau.
Macchioni is a free-lance writer who lives near Milan, Italy.
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