Christmas Wine

I have not sampled Fille En Aiguilles or Sacre Noir, which both sound like they'd go in a similar direction, so I have little to compare this to. *Edit* - After finally sampling FeA, I can confirm this isn't even in the same ballpark. They are about 2% similar, in the fact that they're both perfume, and both in tall, thin bottles. That's about it. Nick seems to have a real talent when it comes to capturing specific memories and imagery in scent. Christmas Wine is no different. It opens up with a blend of balsam fir and cranberry, so smooth, it's like they form a single accord. The balsam fir is hyper realistic, and very much like Christmas tree sap - an element found in several other Pineward offerings. The cranberry is organic, sweet, slightly tart, and lends that holiday feast festive vibe. While not found in the notes, I detect a dense red apple note, which is remarkably similar to Apple Tabac, by the same house. That overripe, almost decaying apple-on-the-ground note, and it furthers the autumnal/winter feeling of this. I don't detect clove too much in the beginning, but I think nutmeg may be lending some warm spiciness, helping to weigh down the fruitiness and sappy fir. As it sits, the clove pokes through, but it's very subtle, and doesn't announce itself as a note, but rather contributes to the overall composition. From afar, you wouldn't pick the clove out. Some reviews have mentioned "Indian food". While there is no curry, cumin, or masala spice here, I can detect something vaguely savoury - perhaps the spices, they may spark that association for some. I eat a ton of Indian, Middle Eastern, and North African cuisine, and I don't smell it here. The resinous fir sap note does slowly fade over time - never disappearing, but eventually playing second fiddle to the cranberry and stewed fruit notes, while that cider-like apple remains ever-constant, securing the festive feeling as the conifer takes a back seat. Projection seems to be greater than some other Pineward offerings, and like Apple Tabac, is fairly volatile and diffuse, while longevity remains exceptional - again, like most Pineward. If you're looking for autumn-in-a-bottle or Christmas-in-a-bottle, there are several Pineward fragrances that will fit the bill, but Christmas Wine is among the very best of the category. Not versatile at all, but what it does, it does better than almost anything else you can find. This one's a stunner. Note: Christmas Wine isn't quite as sticky and oily as some of the blacker offerings, so it wears particularly nice, however, the deep cranberry red juice will certainly stain clothing, so apply smartly.

Pineward Perfumes Christmas Wine is, I believe, a seasonal offering from this 2020-launched house out of western US whose inspirations mainly include the outdoors and particularly pine trees. Christmas Wine is yet another example of a great mix of woody, spicy, sweet, and resinous elements, with a note listing of cranberry, plum, blood orange, cloves, nutmeg, fir balsam. So it’s plenty fruity, a quite sweet, a bit tart, with significant woody underpinning, dense and dark enough that, like most of the house’s offerings, it’s clearly better for colder weather and in line with the current winter season in the northern hemisphere. The juice is dark and strong, as, with other releases from the house, Christmas Wine is compounded at a extrait concentration, 30%+, reminiscent of Slumberhouse releases, and similarly, I would liken this scent in particular (as I did with another) to the stewed fruit aspect of Slumberhouse Baque and Mond, albeit somewhat better than Baque but in a comparable style to both scents. The pricing is fairly consistent with the rest of the line, as well, with a newer, larger size having been made available, seemingly for all scents in the catalogue: $220/128/80 for 57/37/17ml. I continue to by impressed by Pineward’s offerings, loving the vast majority of the fragrances I’ve sampled, and I still have some more to go. 8 out of 10

Christmas Wine by Pineward Perfumes takes a slightly different direction that Fille en Aiguilles or Sacre Noir, both coniferous fragrances with a holiday fruits and spices theme. Where Serge Lutens FEA and House of Matriarchs SN both go in a slightly sweet direction, Christmas Wine keeps things more true to the actual notes of the conifer resin, fruits, and spices. It smells fresh yet liquored and very festive. This perfume is another one that has nuclear strength and it is best to go light on the sprays if you don't want to project like a thousand watt candle. :-) You will smell good doing it though. Another brilliant conifer fragrance with a holiday theme that I'm so glad to have in my collection!

The name is very fitting for this one. It smells exactly like a festive mulled wine. This opens with boozy cranberries and stewed plums. They’re warm, fruity, and sweet. The blood oranges add a freshness that cuts through all the sweetness and add some citrus to the otherwise dark fruity blend. The blend of cloves and nutmeg add a soft spiced warmth here. And you do get some green accords coming through from the fir balsam.The dry down of this is much more plum forward and less cranberry. It smells like a spiced plum wine, very boozy, very rich but with brightness from the orange. Love this one

The headiness of red wine mixed with Christmas fruitcake. It smells exactly like I expected based on the notes and the description. Nilsson shows off some real fine blending skills here! As it develops on skin, the fir balsam comes forward and the liquor top notes subside. I love the fruity/conifer drydown as it mixes beautifully with the lingering holiday spices. Intoxicating, truly intoxicating scent. We’ll done- this new house is worth a look!

I love this and those that get to try the new formulat this year will be in for a treat. It’s strong in the cranberry and cherry. Sweet but never cloying. It’s got chocolate but in small dose. And conifer notes help temper the sweetness at the top that stays with the fragrance for the entire life of it.

Very rustic smelling. I smell old wood at first, almost a little grandfatherly, but after a few seconds I smell also juicy cranberry come through. Wood and cranberry, with a bit of plum and smokiness. I just imagine sitting in a small cozy dark wood log cabin in winter, sipping some warm red Christmas wine by a fire. About 5 minutes later I get more of the spices coming through for a more 'mulled wine' smell. I just want to cozy up and drink some delicious Christmas wine now. Deep, rich, boozy spicy dark fruity smell. After 10 minutes, I feel like the balsam fir starts come even more into the mix, adding an extra Christmas-y kick to it and nostalgia. Projection is decently strong, especially within arm's length. I'll see how long this lasts. 2 hours later I smell mostly cranberry and spice. My boyfriend smelled it and was a bit taken aback (I don't think he was expecting something so different smelling when I said "smell this perfume" lol). He thought it smelled more feminine (I'm assuming from the fruitiness) and did not like it much. Not that that matters, but I do agree that this is very good as an experimental scent, but in wearing normally, might be a surprise and unexpected to people to smell. 5.5 hours later, it's a lighter, sweeter, cranberry scent I smell directly on my skin. 8 hours later and I still very lightly smell it on my skin, but it's basically gone.

This smells like a candle that you would burn in your house at Christmas time but who cares! It smells delicious. Deep rich mulled wine by the fire. Super cozy. This would be a great perfume to wear on a date night in the winter or during the holidays. Everyone will think you smell delicious and want to hug you. I like this brand. They are off for Christmas so I'm glad I got my samples. They will be back in Jan and taking orders, they will be getting some from me.

I don't really get Christmas from this specifically. It's a nice spiced sour cranberry scent with pine in the background. I enjoy the sample I got but I don't think this one is for me. I prefer Apple Tabac.

This is nice. It's fruity and a little boozy. It makes me think of a boozy holiday punch at a Christmas party, so well done. Not sure it is something I'd like to wear, but it's a nice smell.

I like the original Christmas Wine. Christmas Wine '24 isn't on the database yet, and I don't like it as much.

Sour fruit but not boozy, nutmeg, and pine. The holiday effect was short-lived and left a reddish gummy film on my skin.

Opened with sweet apple chips and mulling spices, both stronger than the presumed Christmas tree note. It was like a potpourri that my childhood neighbors kept in a bowl on their coffee table, which is not a criticism -- I loved that potpourri! In fact, for the short period that the Christmassy potpourri effect lasted, I was considering the purchase of a full bottle. Unfortunately, as the top note burns off, a sludgy organic smell takes over that reminds me of tamanu oil, which I don't enjoy. For much of the dry-down, the effect is similar to the aroma that greets one at the door of the neighborhood Indian restaurant -- a melange of toasted cumin, coriander, and turmeric. This has its place, but it's incongruous with the promise of the opening and of the name "Christmas Wine" -- a deal breaker for me.

This one is weird. In testing I got the plum & blood orange (but not the cranberry, which I’d been looking for), and the cloves & nutmeg... but there was something unpleasantly savory about this “wine.” I swear, I detected a meat note! And I didn’t even get the fir balsam! Eventually I couldn’t deal with the meaty undertone and tried scrubbing, succeeding in removing everything but the blood orange, which actually stuck around for a while (that part I didn’t mind so much).

I wore Christmas Wine on a chilly late winter day a few days ago. In the Pacific Northwest air, this smells like mulled holiday stew. The scent stuck with me all day. Unfortunately we have a chain of craft stores called Michaels, and the scent reminds me of that store: plastic wreaths, holiday candles and Knick knacks. As a perfume, I don’t find Christmas Wine intriguing.

I got this one in a sample test pack. Was very excited to try it, and the initial smell was fantastic. The more I let it sit on my body, the stronger the sour, fruity smell came up. It sat for a long while, but every so often I would get a strong whiff of it, and it was nauseating.

Gotta echo the other reviews here, this just screams candle. All Pineward scents I've tried settle down to something candle-y, but this one starts there and never lets up. Cranberry Christmas Candle.

I got immediate public bathroom soap vibes from this. I don't know if this was supposed to have a boozy note in it (I assumed there would be?), but I got no hint of wine.

I wore Christmas wine and gluhwein together on different wrists today so I could compare, since they seemed like there would be so much overlap. First impression is that gluhwein is the more powerful of the two and projects further. I would say that they are indeed very similar to each other, and I'm not sure why both need to exist. Gluhwein is the sweeter of the two, whereas I would describe Christmas wine as more tart. More cranberries perhaps in CW, and more sugar and tannins in GW. Aside from that, they both have the clove and nutmeg smell that you'd expect. In the drydown, the differences disappear and both smell identical. I was literally smelling one wrist then smelling the other and I couldn't tell I was wearing two different scents. They lasted well though, around 6-8 hours on me

Christmas Wine begins with a blast of sugary fruitiness, a veritable barrage of plummy berry and warm citrus, before rapidly (within three minutes) settling into a resinous sweet-woody base. It then hums along in linear fashion for long enough to get you through Christmas Eve into Christmas Day. I get whiffs of blood orange and fir here and there, and it does go a bit sour over time, but otherwise the blending is tight. Rather like a Yankee Candle and probably better as a room spray, but fun nonetheless.

Christmas Wine: Stewed Christmas compote with some spices (mainly cloves, a hint of nutmeg and maybe traces of cinnamon) added to it. Interesting, very natural smell, but I do not corelate it with Christmas time... I'd recommend trying Gluhwein instead, which is basically Christmas wine with some quality dark Belgian chocolate added to it. Very good longevity and sillage. It might be a perfect choice for sweet fruity franrances lovers.

18th sample from pineward!! absolutely no booze for me! its really nice and not at all candle-y, id say its strong cranberry juice with blood orange. longevity is alright at around 8 hours. 7/10