L’edition Imperiale by Courvoisier

As a young man growing up in New York City, whenever I walked along 5th Avenue, I always noticed a similarity in the fragrance of choice of the well dressed gentlemen cruising along this famous high-end retail destination. They all seemed to epitomize traditional masculinity, leathery, spicy and warm. This is exactly what came to mind over the past few days while I’ve been wearing L’edition Imperiale by Courvoisier.

As I walked the aisles of PXA, I stumbled across their booth and approached with caution. Sometimes brand extensions are impulse reactions to trends of the moment and many of them are flawed in my opinion. I couldn’t help but wonder if the same was the case here but as I spoke with Paul Baron, who is in charge of marketing, he explained to me the synergy between spirit making and fragrance development. Both play identical roles in developing fragrant palettes, complex accords and seductive bouquets. That makes perfect sense I said to myself. He also discussed the brands rich history which dates back over 200 years and legend has it that in 1811 Napoleon visited their warehouses, left with several barrels of cognac on his way to St Helena where English officers dubbed it the “The Cognac of Napoleon.”

After it was all said and done, I was quite curious to sample L’edition Imperiale. The bottles presentation said luxury and is definitely something to proudly display on your mantle of fragrances. At first the scent starts of bright and powdery with a hint of sweetness to me, which was totally unexpected. I attribute that to the Mandarin and Cardamom that is used in the top notes along with Tagette and Coriander. But as the scent settles it quickly warms and shows off its spicy, woody and resinous side. Low lit, walnut lined gentlemen’s clubs filled with beautiful leather chairs and soothing music comes to mind as well. The middle notes include Atlas Cedarwood, Smoked Tea, Royal Calla Lily and Violet while the base notes include Vetiver, Fir Balsam, Leather and Amber.

While I tend to personally shy away from scents that remind me of traditional “old school” men’s cologne, I was instantly won over by L’edition Imperiale. Its fragrant opening and developing layers which dry down to a powdered fresh crisp leather seem befitting a brand that has represented luxury for so man years. Personally I think this was a great brand extension by Courvoisier and I can’t wait to see what they have up their sleeve.

L’edition Imperiale by Courvoisier is available at Bergdorf Goodman