I pen this piece as a challenge : what can be written about roses that has not been already written and overwritten? Being a chemist makes me characterize the scent of roses, a powerful attribute of their appeal. It is due primarily to several free
monoterpenes. These include, notably, the alcohol geraniol, a molecule with 10 carbon atoms; an alcoholic OH group and two ethylenic bonds.
Geraniol is notesworthy for its soft floral rose fragrance, with citrus and fruity notes. Accordingly, it has been abundantly used by perfume composers, best known by their both admiring and somewhat derogatory French name, nez, i.e., noses.
An example is the “Rose absolue” perfume devised by a most remarkable lady, Annick Goutal (1951-1999). She was born in Laguiole, a large village in Northern Aveyron, in Central France,
close to the border between Aveyron and the nearby département of Cantal. Laguiole has a reputation as the provider of luxury knives derived from the local navaja-like pocket knives of farmers. It also boasts a yummy restaurant, started by Michel Bras (b. 1946) who was taught by his mother in making local dishes, and who gained a three-star ranking in the Michelin Guide (he has now retired).
Annick Goutal started professional life as a gifted classical pianist. She proceeded to be a model and then switched to devising and selling perfumes, most successfully. Her “Rose Absolue” eau de parfum combines extracts from several varieties of roses, rose of May, Turkey, Bulgaria, Damascus, Egypt, and Morocco. Of those, the Turkish rose is the most majestic.
To quote Perrine Leblanc, a gifted writer from Québec, “le fil rouge de ma garde-robe changeante de poèmes olfactifs est l’essence de rose / The common thread running through my ever- changing wardrobe of olfactory poems is rose essence.” (Petite nature, Montréal : Marchands de feuilles, 2025, p. 80). Most fascinating, at least to me, is the history of rose
domestication. It is accessible through its DNA. One thus learns that roses and strawberries shared their initial (childhood?) histories!
And what about rose gardens — or rather Rose Gardens? The words are capitalized because these expensive to maintain entities belonged predominantly to the powerful and wealthy. The original one, dating to the beginning of the nineteenth century, was started and kept at La Malmaison castle by Empress Joséphine (1763-1814). She was Napoleron’s great love and his first wife. He repudiated her when she could not provide him with an heir. Had he courted her with roses? Probably, is my guess.