Sandra‘s Closet

Let me introduce you today to a new olfactive family with two news scents from KILIAN PARIS: Angels’ Share and Roses on Ice. Both are inspired by the legendary liquors cognac and gin, respectively, served in refillable fragrance flacons styled like art deco glasses to recall the most fabulous of bars.

Kilian Hennessy with me

These fragrances are the perfect after-party scents, capturing the moment when the mood gets lit and extravagance sets in. Launching the olfactive family The Liquors, founder Kilian Hennessy felt it was time to pay tribute to his heritage, as heir to the renowned French cognac making family, and to his choice olfactory intoxicants for driving the night towards dawn.

Angels’ Share is perhaps Kilian Hennessy’s most personal fragrance creation yet, inspired by his eighth-generation inheritance of Hennessy savoir-faire in cognacmaking. Much like a Master Perfumer who crafts accords and essences in a perfume, a Master Blender combines the eaux-de-vie in perfect proportions for an exceptional cognac.

This creation goes deep into the cellars of founder’s mind and memory, and into its most mysterious dimension: «la part des anges» or «angels’ share»— an evaporation of liquor in oak barrels that lifts, while aging, like a silent offering to the gods.

This first-time collaboration with French perfumer Benoist Lapouza, Angels’ Share contains the essence of Cognac derived from the liquor to lend it a natural caramel color. Opening with this cognac oil, upon a blend of oak absolute, cinnamon essence and tonka bean absolute, the scent’s long-lasting notes of sandalwood, praline and vanilla make for a delicious finish, a rare concoction only angels should experience.

Anyone for notes of gin, distilled with rose and cucumber? As a first-time collaboration with perfumer Franck Voelkl, Kilian Hennessy wanted to recreate the tasting of «gin on the rocks» with a splash of lime—recalling his wife’s favorite drink. Roses on Ice opens with the aquatic freshness of cucumber and the aromatic uplift of juniper berries, creating an icy sensation, rounded in an accord with voluptuous Rose Centifolia. Upon a drydown of sandalwood and musk, the scent expresses the sharp—yet deeply infused—character of gin consumed in its ideal.

Instantly and addictively tactile, The Liquors olfactive family perfume flacons are trompe l’oeil objects reminiscent of art deco barware. Styled as a speakeasy essential, the weighted glass is engraved with the emblematic K motif to throw and catch light at all angles, finished with a golden, diamond-shaped plaque signed in white serigraphy.

Knock on the door, slip inside a hidden bar—and prohibition ends here, for The Liquors by KILIAN PARIS are the scents of late-night libations. Now the party starts getting good.

With curfews everywhere and no party going on until the pandemic will be hopefully over soon, we can only dream about having a great party while wearing the new scents. I explored the fragrances Tuesday evening at Widder Bar in Zurich. The launch was accompanied by two drinks created for the new perfumes. Please find the recipes below. We could choose one scent. My personal favorite is definitely Angels’ Share, a warm and embracing scent, that is perfect for the holiday season.

TO SHOP ANGELS’ SHARE ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

TO SHOP ROSES ON ICE ONLINE, CLICK HERE PLEASE.

Each fragrance is CHF 169.00 for 50ml.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: © KILIAN PARIS and © Sandra Bauknecht
DISCLOSURE: This post is not sponsored. However, we may earn commission from links on this page, but I only recommend products I love. Promise.

Last April, I wrote a post about the amazing project that LOUIS XIII did in collaboration with HERMÈS, SAINT-LOUIS, and PUIFORCAT.

Four French luxury houses joined forces to create something very special.

Personally speaking, I still find it very impressive that each decanter of LOUIS XIII takes four generations of cellar masters over 100 years to craft. It is a unique blend of up to 1,200 eaux-de-vie, the youngest of which is at least 40 years old.

A veritable journey through time, it has been present at every milestone in the history of luxury travel. In tribute to this odyssey, the four French luxury houses joined forces to create three unique masterpieces. To crown their rarity, the LOUIS XIII cognac they house is a tailor-made coupe enriched with a selection of one of the oldest Grande Champagne eaux-de-vie, set aside over the decades by the Cellar Masters.

Touring the world.

Inspired by the iconic LOUIS XIII journeys, these objets-d’art have toured the globe, exhibiting their history and savoir-faire at Hermès boutiques, prestige museums and select venues in cultural capitals: Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, New York, Singapore, Paris and London… For one year, LOUIS XIII shared its ode to adventure with the world.

To close this exciting tour, each decanter has been auctioned by Sotheby’s. In New York, the Americas edition topped the record for sale of a LOUIS XIII decanter; in Hong Kong in October, the Asia decanter surpassed that total; and at the final sale in London on November 16, the Europe decanter fetched US$ 235,000, bringing the full total to US$ 558,000.

“LOUIS XIII and The Film Foundation are both committed to preserving a cultural legacy, honoring the past while ensuring that films survive into the future. The work of the foundation has helped to restore over 700 films, from the 1880s onward, encompassing well over 100 years of this extraordinary art form. We are grateful for our partnership with LOUIS XIII, and its generous and continuous support for the foundation’s mission,” said Martin Scorsese.

The proceeds will benefit The Film Foundation, created by Martin Scorsese in 1990 to restore and preserve cinematic heritage. A great project with a lot of success – bravo!

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of LOUIS XIII

What happens if four French luxury houses join forces? They surely design something very special that exudes rare craftsmanship and unbroken tradition. Offering a bespoke tribute to one of the world’s most storied Grande Champagne cognac’s mythical journeys through the ages, LOUIS XIII has collaborated with HERMÈS, SAINT-LOUIS, and PUIFORCAT.

Each of them contributing their own expertise and centuries-old savoir-faire, they have created together a series of three one-of-a-kind masterpieces, L’ODYSSÉE D’UN ROI (JOURNEY OF A KING), that is paying ode to the travel heritage of the famous cognac house.

THE ULTIMATE JOURNEY
LOUIS XIII has been present at every milestone in the history of luxury travel — from the legendary bar-car of the Orient-Express to the first-class lounge of the S.S. Normandie ocean liner to the sleek cabin of the supersonic Concorde jet. To pay tribute to this heritage of adventure and discovery, L’ODYSSÉE D’UN ROI is inspired by the first shipments of LOUIS XIII in the late 1870s and the iconic journeys that followed to the farthest corners of the globe.

THE AUCTION
The three trunks will be offered in a special 1-lot sale in different auctions at Sotheby’s, one in NYC on September 10, 2016, one in Hong Kong on October 1, 2016 and one in London on November 16, 2016. Each masterpiece is unique, its design and contents are inspired by the continent for which it is destined. 

All proceeds will be benefiting «The Film Foundation», a non-profit organization founded by Martin Scorsese and other leading filmmakers in 1990 to preserve and restore classic films, ensuring their survival for future generations. In this same spirit of preservation, the house has pledged to replant 115,000 oak trees in France in partnership with ONF (French National Forest Office).

Ludovic du Plessis and Martin Scorsese

“LOUIS XIII – L’ODYSSÉE D’UN ROI is truly the result of a work of art and genius, a veritable tribute to craftsmanship and time. Much like the time, finesse and care it takes to create LOUIS XIII, so it is with the process of preserving classic cinema. We therefore decided that the proceeds of LOUIS XIII – L’ODYSSÉE D’UN ROI will be donated to THE FILM FOUNDATION, a group dedicated to film preservation and the exhibition of restored and classic cinema, a cultural legacy that one generation leaves to another.”
Ludovic du Plessis, LOUIS XIII Global Executive Director

Let’s have a closer look at those masterpieces that were created by more than 5o individual artisans that devoted over 1000 hours per piece to produce the three bespoke creations.

THE TAILOR-MADE OFFERING INCLUDES:

• A beautiful book that chronicles LOUIS XIII’s mythical journeys that begin on a 16th-century battlefield in rural France but will touch every corner of the globe.

HERMÈS

• A bespoke trunk hand-stitched by HERMÈS using the finest leathers and evoking a bygone era of luxury travel.

This bespoke trunk was hand-stitched by HERMÈS using the finest leathers. Modelled on a classic steamer trunk — the kind that would have been taken on an ocean liner or a long journey by train — it evokes a bygone era of luxury travel. In fact, the handles are exact replicas of those used for HERMÈS from the 1920s and30s. Of course the design of the interior was created for a very precise function, which is to luxuriously house a unique magnum decanter of LOUIS XIII. This unique object is a suitably grand conveyance for this unforgettable journey across space and time.

PUIFORCAT

• A white gold pipette forged by the Art Deco silversmith PUIFORCAT for the ritual of service.

This white gold pipette was forged by hand by the Art Deco silversmith PUIFORCAT for the ritual of service. The method is centuries-old: the craftsman spins a plate of silver on a mandril, which is a tapered piece of wood that turns horizontally. He uses a simple tool called a “spoon” to give shape to the object. Several passes are often needed for a piece to take on the desired contours. These steps are punctuated by “annealing,” a controlled heating process used to soften the metal. Etching is another whole step: the piece is wedged on a leather pillow full of sand. With thin notches made on the surface of the metal, the craftsman can draw a coat of arms or some other decorative pattern with exquisite precision, honed through decades of practice.

SAINT-LOUIS

• A sublime crystal decanter and four elegant serving glasses — mouth-blown, cut and wheel- engraved by hand at the royal cristallerie SAINT-LOUIS. Each decanter is etched with a 19th-century map of the continent where it is bound.

Three sublime crystal decanters and 12 elegant matching serving glasses were blown, cut and engraved entirely by hand at the royal cristallerie SAINT-LOUIS. The ancient, painstaking technique of copper-wheel engraving has given these crystal works their regal profile. Each magnum-size decanter was additionally etched with a 19th-century map of the continent where it is bound. For this project, SAINT-LOUIS capitalized on the savoir-faire of more than 10 craftsmen — including four glassblowers, one engraver, and a specially trained artisan to apply the palladium trim to each crystal object. The crystal was heated to over 1,400°c degrees and then mouth-blown at around 1,200 °c. Each glass required 110 man-hours of work while the magnificent decanter itself took no less than 270 hours to accomplish.

LOUIS XIII

• A blend of LOUIS XIII Cognac enriched with a selection of the house’s oldest treasures from Grande Champagne, that each cellar master pass on to each other, from generation to generation. A very special spirit revealing flavours that are at once singular and complementary. A cognac to savour and admire.

Of all of the legendary travels of Louis XIII, its most important journey is the one taken through time. That voyage begins in the rolling hills and chalky soil of Grande Champagne, the strictly demarcated and most prestigious cru of Cognac. Here the region’s delicate grapes — predominantly the Ugni Blanc variety — are harvested and turned into a low alcohol wine, which is then twice distilled in an onion-domed copper pot still, yielding an eau-de-vie of uncommon freshness and power. Only the tiniest sliver of this base spirit will be set aside to become, four generations later, a part of LOUIS XIII.

That ageing process takes time, but also a tremendous amount of savoir-faire, an almost mimetic genius possessed by each generation of LOUIS XIII’s cellar masters. The chais, or cellars, in which they work are dark, incredibly quiet places, the barrels in which the cognac rests covered in thick blankets of spider webs. As the alcohol evaporates over time, the spirit deepens and darkens, releasing a sweet and rich smell that fills the moist air.

The keeper of the legend, Baptiste Loiseau, the current cellar master, joined the house in 2007.

“In one century I won’t be here, so I have to be sure, deep inside, that what I select really corresponds to the universe of LOUIS XIII. It’s a big responsibility, if in tasting this blend, I don’t have the sensation or emotion given by the previous cellar master, then something is missing.”
Baptiste Loiseau

With each passing year, the cellar master dips a pipette into the barrel and tastes something different. At 20 years, there is almonds, figs and fresh-baked brioche. At 40, candied plums. At 70, honeysuckle and saffron. All the while, he is blending different eaux-de-vie, searching for perfection through a process called marriage.
By 100 years, hundreds of eaux-de-vie have been married together, resulting in a complex, ineffable flavour. On the nose, it is elegant and floral: dried rose and jasmine — the fragrances of Grande Champagne. These are followed by denser notes like dates, dried fig and walnut. On the palate, the first drop of LOUIS XIII unleashes a ballet of flavours; the walnut and fig aromas soften with those of honey as headier notes — of wax, tobacco and undergrowth — roll in like a wave. The tasting is distinguished by a haunting, lasting finish. The century-long journey of LOUIS XIII has come to its triumphant end.

L’ODYSSÉE D’UN ROI is a shining testament both to the heritage that created LOUIS XIII and the nature that continues to inspire it. The protection of cultural treasures — whether the art of filmmaking or the art of cognac — requires time, finesse and care. It is a beautiful project, bravo LOUIS XIII!

And if you interested, check LOUIS XIII’s other recent project in collaboration with John Malkovich: «100 Years: The Movie You will Never See» by clicking here.

LoL, Sandra

Photos: Courtesy of Louis XIII

John Malkovich with me

When I read about this project, I was immediately drawn to it. Such a cool idea! John Malkovich and director Robert Rodriguez have teamed up with LOUIS XIII Cognac, one of the most luxurious spirits in the world, to make a movie that predicts what life will be like 100 years in the future. «100 YEARS: THE MOVIE YOU WILL NEVER SEE» won’t be released – and now read carefully – until November 2115. Yes, my dear readers, that means we all will never get to watch it.

The famous LOUIS XIII Cognac

LOUIS XIII Decanter Baccarat

The inspiration behind it was to draw attention to all the hard work that it takes to make each decanter of LOUIS XIII Cognac. Its grapes grow in the chalky soils of Grande Champagne, the most sought-after area of the Cognac region, in France. Just as four generations of cellar masters dedicate their lives to creating a masterpiece that they will never be tasting, the cast and crew of «100 Years» will never see the final cut of the film.

Grande Champagne landscape

A French art de vivre enthusiast, John Malkovich not only plays the leading role alongside Shuya Chang but also developed the original screenplay for «100 Years». This ground-breaking film comes with a lot of special effects and imagines how our planet might look like in a century in three different scenarios.

The first one shows the Earth overtaken by nature after it has been devastated by chemical warfare. Another explores the idea of a dark world ruled by technology. And in the third hypothetical vision, humanoid robots have taken control of the planet and humans have to run to escape.

To ensure that «100 Years» remains secure until its official premiere one century from now, the film was placed in a state-of-the-art safe, created in partnership with Fichet-Bauche, which will open automatically in 100 years when the timing is complete. The custom made piece is a marvel of design, featuring bulletproof glass and a revolutionary timer. Upon the closing of the safe, the door will not open until the countdown is complete, not even with a code or a key, regardless of access to a power source.

Le Grollet House of LOUIS XIII

For the premiere on November 18, 2115, one thousand guests from around the world received an exclusive invitation to give to their descendants to attend the big event at the House of LOUIS XIII, the Domaine du Grollet, in Cognac, France. Isn’t it amazing to imagine that some people might look up this post in 100 years and think of us, the ones that never saw the movie.

This outstanding project «100 Years» was celebrated on last Wednesday with an exclusive preview of the film’s trailer at James Goldstein‘s Sheats Goldstein Mansion in Los Angeles. During the invitation only event, John Malkovich, with LOUIS XIII, ceremoniously placed the film reel into the custom safe and set the timer for the official premiere in November 18th, 2115. This safe will be transported around the world under high-level security for an international tour beginning in Hong Kong on December 11th, before it reaches its final destination at the House of LOUIS XIII in Cognac.

Owner of the residence James Goldstein

Ed Westwick

Louis XIII Global Executive Director Ludovic du Plessis, director Robert Rodriguez and actor John Malkovich share a toast.

Actresses Jamie King and Emma Roberts

Louis XIII Global Executive Director Ludovic du Plessis at the party in Beverly Hills, California.

Film costumes on display.

Designer Zac Posen

Have fun watching the exclusive trailer below and join the conversation on social media with #notcomingsoon. You can follow LOUIS XIII on its social channels including: Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

Either PR masterpiece or craziest film project ever, the concept is pretty cool. Don’t you think?

LoL, Sandra

Photos and Trailer: Courtesy of LOUIS XIII, Getty Images for Louis XIII