La Collection Couturier Parfumeur Granville

The most wonderful "earthy" fragrance I have experienced, masterpiece, lots of character. I was looking to cap off a large complete collection. I was enjoying my favorite Fall/ Winter Pine fragrance, Lauder for Men (vintage). I thought it would be great to find a pine fragrance for Summer. I tried and purchased Creed Epicea, and Granville. Wrote a review of Epicea, a great unique fresh/ pine fragrance. I tried Gypsy Water, it's okay, but not for me. Penhaligans Blenhiem Bouquet they say is a poorer quality Granville, so won't bother. Granville is a very unique herbal, citrus, woody fragrance. From late mid to dry-down you get more of the Pine, which gives a pinny, resinous richness, to the otherwise dryness. The great lemon keeps it juicy and slightly sweet I have tried very herbal frags in the past, that are too bitter, and not enjoyable. Not so with Granville. This is wonderfully blended with beautiful fragrance accords. Its very hard to describe. Some knock it, as its not a mass appealing scent. It's in a catagory of it's own. The pine is not very distinct, but it makes a beautiful accord with the greenweed, or broom, which smells like potato chips, and is bitter green in a wonderful way. There is also pencil shavings note along with the pine. The slight sweetness of the best, natural lemon is in accord with a bitter green note that is so uniquely appealing. Lemon and greenweed perhaps. The thyme is slightly bitter, but not unpleasant. It makes the lemon more unique and enjoyable, and nicely blends withe the pine as well. The lemon makes the rosemary less medecinal. The pepper ads vibrancy. Everyone about loves pine. Its a piquant note here that balances with richness and depth. It is like I'm on the Normandy coast, and every now and then a gentle Pine scent wafts in with the breeze. I dont smell the pine all the time, but when I do, wow, its really nice! The genius of this fragrance is that it does smell like the wind/ air on a rocky coast, as in Dior's home in Granville... This has such unusual frag accords that do smell like granite stone at times, pine, some old fallen tree. Making a fragrance that smells like the air I have thought would be an impossible challenge. The perfumer here, does it amazingly! It only smells like an Eau de Cologne for 15 minutes while citrus is strong. Then it is always changing, evolving to something very unique. I am giving Granville a 10/10 rating . It is great for the unique category of fragrance it is. If I had to put it in a catagory of fragrance, Ctrus/ Aromatic; The best one out there. Sabastian on "Smelling Great" said the same. Rating: 10/10 God bless. John 3:16

UPDATE : Having worn this for another year, I've upgraded my scores. This is a favorite. Just a wonderful fresh scent that can be worn year round. I'm not a big fan of pine notes. I guess I have too many childhood memories of pine air fresheners and scented cleaners that associate a cheap, overly accessible scent. And while Granville leads with pine, the supporting notes of lemon, herbs (rosemary/thyme/mint) and soft woods transform it into something wonderfully fresh and inviting. I really enjoy Diptyque Hesperides, which was my very affordable version of Granville before I even knew it. But after discovering Dior discontinued it, I decided it was time to explore this fragrance. Longevity is rather like an EDC than an EDT, so one may find reapplying is necessary. I don't mind that, because not every fragrance has to be a powerhouse or bold enough to last 24 hours. This is something very office safe and yet, different from so many other fragrances. It comes somewhat close to being "mouthwash scent", but stops just short of it. A little more mint and it would smell terribly cheap. Ironically, retail prices are rather high for what you get, but it isn't the most popular fragrance from Dior's Couturier Collection so slightly used bottles can be had for very decent discounts. Get it before it starts becoming scarce! Fragrance 9.1 / Value 8.5

A dry, stark and austere fragrance. Granville is an aromatic green composition centred around pine. It heavily borrows from Blenheim Bouquet. It's more herbal and has a bit more of the spices. The initial citric burst of lemon is deceptive. Briefly the composition turns piney with some herbal elements. Thereafter it is quite relentless in its green character, and quite linear. It is bitter, medicinal, formal and somewhat unisex with moderate sillage and fair longevity. Personally I feel it misses a supporting cast. Even though it is deep, it mostly has a single facet, and in this case it is intriguing but not that compelling. Any hint of sweetness or a touch of incense or a mild accent of patchouli would have provided an interesting contrast. Instead its dry, bitter, green apporach is uncompromising. It is also outdoorsy, evocative of vast open greeneries, and cool, cloudy days spent wandering about in the woods, not without a sense of wonder. The palette is mostly shades of green, yet the painting board has some blank, abstract spaces to let imagination complete the story. A weak thumbs up. 3.5/5 (positive)

I strongly disagree with my respected fellow reviewers that this is a poor effort from Dior - in fact, I believe Granville is the most special in the exclusives range (and I own, or at least have very considerately tried them all many times.) Yes - it is a somewhat simplistic blast of lemon up top. But I ask you to do one thing for me: Get a good spray of this on your skin then go for a little walk around the mall. After 20 minutes, the complexity of the herbal notes comes through and the lemon is tamed into something beautiful, broad and brisk. Quite unlike anything out there in my opinion, Granville is not a citrus, not a herbal, but something in between - and all its own. I DO THIS: It's good enough on its own, but try this: Wear your two-sprays Granville as a base layer, then add single tiny spritz of Santal 33, followed by a single tiny spritz of Vetiver Extraordinnaire. Good lord, what a dovetail. This three-way combination is my current office signature - clean, dark and otherworldly.

This is the only citrus smell that I like. To me pretty much all others smell like limon kolonyası. But when I wear this i feel so good and i smell like a salad!! In a good way of course. The thyme and rosemary make it so unique and it is also very fit for combining with other aromatic greeen or spicy scents. Goes so well with lavender. To me it reminded me at first of no 19 then Chloe Capucine but i might also just be biased from the color, or maybe the pepper is the common denominator. it was a blind buy second hand and the seller told me it was masculine but as a woman i think it can be worn very easily by women and since it is discontinued it will be a unique signature smell. Although I wish it was a bit more intense. Longevity is good but sillage could be better. P.S.: IMO all of dior's private collection is great for mixing and combining just like jo malones. 8.5/10