Caleche Fleurs de Mediterranee by Hermes

Perfume and wind know no barriers: they travel freely through air and over sea. In Calèche Fleurs de Méditerranée, a warm breeze glides over the Mediterranean basin, delicately grazing the fragile white stars of Egyptian jasmine, rustling the skirts of the Turkish damascena rose, stroking the sunbathed blooms of Moroccan mimosa.

Although rose and jasmine have long been recognised as classics – floral nobles in the art of perfume – the fine mettle of mimosa proves it can hold its own among the champions.

"Golden puffs, the downy tufts of new-born chicks. The minuscule golden chicks of mimosa…” “powdered like Pierrot the pantomime in his yellow polka-dots”, “fireworks”, “tiny torches alight”…

Francis Ponge , “ LE MIMOSA ” IN La Rage de l’expression © Édition Gallimard. Authorised translation by Hermes, courtesy of editions Gallimard.

No one has more beautifully described mimosa than has the poet Francis Ponge. This downy soft, delicate flower is actually a wild Australian beauty that grows freely and almost entirely untended throughout the Mediterranean basin. Though it needs little in terms of care and soil, it is quite demanding where temperature is concerned - and especially loves to bathe in the sun. It certainly needs it to be able to give back all that light through the thousands of tiny yellow stars that bloom in the heart of winter.

Mimosa: the first smile of the year, a whisper of sunlight, the promise of spring!

The mimosa tufts are handpicked by the bundle and heaped like floods of feathers into large white sheets, then transferred to distillation vats, where they stew in volatile solvents. A vast volume yields a mere featherweight: 300 to 400 kilos (660 to 880 lbs) of flowers are needed for each kilo (2.2 lbs) of mimosa absolute, a precious yellow oil imbued with an airy yet sensual scent, of an astonishing softness and presence.

A ray of sunlight in the fragrance

Calèche, so characteristically elegant, so undeniably classic, reaffirms its femininity with Egyptian jasmine and Turkish rose. The Soie de Parfum of Calèche Fleurs de Méditerranée plays with a daring hint of violet leaf, giving an invigorating tartness to its initially light, fruity scent. Joyously enlivened by a fresh breath of mimosa, it incarnates a youthful fragility, a distinctly contemporary clarity rounded to perfection by a gentle touch of sunflower and beeswax – an echo of the powdery,honey-sweet note of mimosa absolute.

Calèche Fleurs de Méditerranée. Astonishing. Charming. An exclusive sun-filled vintage. Caleche Fleurs de Mediterranee was launched in 2003.