Racine (1988)
by Maître Parfumeur et Gantier

Truly uplifting lightly smoked lemon opening. Those with hangups about polishing furniture should pass. The lemon dies down a bit. The smoke hangs around. As solid as this fragrance is, as nice as it smells, there is a serious lack of anything truly magical about it. No one is going to lose a moment of sleep in anticipation of wearing this fragrance to Mr. Darcy's ball and captivating all who come near.

17th December, 2011. (Last Edited: 21st December, 2011.)

A solid and relatively safe vetiver citrus scent.

Longevity is really disappointing. It is sad because the top notes are nice and bracing with quality raw materials. I personally prefer vetivers with more substance and relief so Racine is not my first choice. Mona di Orio and Villoresi make vetivers that better fit the bill.

6th October, 2011.

A clean, citrusy vetiver that confirms the general high quality of the MPG's offering during the 80's but, at the same time, it doesn't completely satisfy me. Generally I prefer bolder and darker interpretations of the main theme but, if you're into fresher vetivers, you definitely have to try this. In this specific case It's really just a matter of personal taste as this is, objectively, high quality stuff.

15th September, 2011.

Very nice, distinguished, different. Racine goes on “clean”, not a screaming fragrance, a bit citrusy and I smell a trace of peppery accords. The drydown is nice and vetiver helps to pin that faint citrus note longer than you might normally expect. Longevity isn’t as strong as many other high-quality colognes from MPG, I’d say about 5-6 hours. Sillage is also moderate.

23rd March, 2010.

The opening is very citrusy, almost too much so. I have spayed it several times today to get a decent feel of it. Each different time, except one, the citrus was a little overpowering upon first blast. I don't agree with a lot of the reviews that give acclaim for the citrus/vetiver dynamic in the earlier stages. The first ten or so minutes can be a little tough to deal with if you used more than 2-3 sprays.

IMO, Racine really starts to shine once the citrus settles down a bit and the vetiver mingles with the rest of the bottom notes. I will have to agree with the main theme of zztopp's and foetidus' reviews in that the real beauty of it is the quality of the notes, especially the vetiver. Racine is very dry and light, staying close to the skin for most of it's life. It has good longevity but is hard to detect, except for the occasional waft due to slight body movement. It can easily be worn in any season and is very well blended. An easy thumbs up for me.

10th February, 2010.

I recently tried MPG's Racine (I'm assuming it's named after the French playwright of the 17th century, Jean Racine - but racine is also the French word for "root", so who knows?) and would like to report that it's a luxurious and well crafted vetiver scent with citrus and woods.

This scent is part of the Les Caprices du Dandy (The Gentlemen Indulgence) line from MPG, though I've seen it advertised as a woman's scent on some websites. I've also seen the scent notes completely mislabeled as well; make no mistake, this is a refined men's vetiver scent.

Racine starts out with a bright quick-moving citrus accord and transitions to a lighter version of vetiver - the brighter grassier notes rather than the darker rootier notes. Then it segues - with the vetiver still holding the focus - to mellow wood notes of oak moss and light musk. In that sense, Racine is linear in presentation - the vetiver is throughout the scent, from beginning to end.

Man, I love the green scent of a good vetiver! I can readily pick out it's unique note from a fragrance, and this one smelled very classy right out of the bottle. Racine is more of a cool scent, though not as cool as Creed's Original Vetiver. The vetiver is not as dominant in Racine as it is in Original Vetiver, but works well with base notes. No dirty, earthy or fecal notes at all here - very clean and refined. Perfect for office wear or an evening out with the wife to a nice restaurant and show.

This is my first scent from MPG, and I must say that I was impressed. A must try for any vetiver lover.

10th January, 2010.