Reviews of Red Vetyver
by Montale

A vetiver I can wear.

I am one of the unfortunate people on whom Guerlain Vetiver turns into bug spray, so I am constantly in search of a vetiver I can wear. Red Vetiver is the first fragrance I have found that lets me have moist and earthy vetiver along with a smile.

I can’t smell the grapefruit in Red Vetiver. Instead, I smell a combination of wetness, sweetness, and bitterness that reminds me of green capsicum. In conjunction with the wet and earthy vetiver this makes for a lush smell.

The pepper adds an enjoyable dose of heat to Red Vetiver, and the contrast between the heat and wetness stops the fragrance from becoming too linear.

The dry down of Red Vetiver brings cedar and patchouli into play. The cedar has an extra note to it, which reminds me of oak moss, and the patchouli turns slightly chocolaty (like in Patchouli Leaves). The patchouli plus the remains of the pepper reminds me of a chilli truffle.

Red Vetiver has the shortest life on my skin of any Montale I have tried so far: after six hours it becomes a skin scent without obvious projection.

Red Vetiver is not a great Montale, but it is a nice vetiver.

From the very first sniff, I really loved this one.

Why? Because it smells like a cross between Ormonde Jayne’s Isfarkand pour Homme (in terms of the citrus, pepper and vetiver combo) and Hermes' Vetiver Tonka (in terms of the richness and depth of the Haitian vetiver and vanilla used). Its sillage and longevity are initially deceptive – the scent seems quite soft at first but is just as potent as, say, Black Aoud. However, I could easily smell traces of Red Vetyver on my coat days later.

Where Vetiver Tonka was too soft on my skin (before turning) and Isfarkand pour Homme’s (rather weak) drydown had too much emphasis on cedar, Red Vetyver combines their strengths while successfully satisfying to the core. It really is an impressive creation that I hope never to grow tired of. In addition, it’s slightly cheaper than the other two to acquire.

Red Vetyver is now among my top three favourite non-aoud releases by Montale (with Blue Amber and Sweet Oriental Dream being the other two). Also, due to the creamy fullness of the Haitian vetiver, this can easily be worn all year round.

Absolutely stunning!

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[Original submission date: 28 September 2008]

Montale Red Vetyver

Pierre Montale has made a name for himself with the extensive Aoud based line of scents he has designed for Montale. As much as I like and admire those, my two favorite Montales are non-aoud scents Blue Amber and the 2008 release Red Vetyver. Red Vetyver is a complex citrus forward scent and you won't hear me use complex and citrus-forward in the same sentence too often. Red Vetyver bursts to life with a grapefruit that sparkles over a base of vetiver. The razor sharp cut of vetiver in contrast to the citrus is a brilliant beginning. After a while the spicy kick of pepper joins the grapefruit and vetiver and this blend lasts for a good while and adds some heat to the chilly top. Red Vetyver finishes out on a bed of clean cedar and earthy patchouli which is the kind of depth you want a scent like Red Vetyver to close with. Red Vetyver has been unfairly compared to Terre D'Hermes and I think that comparison is because they were both introduced within a year of each other and they both start with such distinctive grapefruit tops. Terre D'Hermes is classic Ellena minimalism at play. Red Vetyver is almost the exact opposite of that and happily so.If you like the Montale Aouds cross over to the non-aoud side of the street and give yourself a chance to be impressed, like me.

The vetiver in this is soft and citrussy vs. the vetiver in des Sables which is bitingly resinous (and lovely). This one has a beautiful mix of soft spice and is just ever so slightly soapy. The longer I have this one on, the more I am convinced that it must be added to my collection. It wears close to the body and seems to last well, going through many stages. Fantastic! Also could be worn well by either a man or a woman. Another winner from Montale!

What a bizarre little beastie this is!

I agree with foetidus that the vetiver is somewhat obscured here, but what I can't get over is the lack of comments on the creamy/almost gourmand notes I keep picking up on in this Montale. (Is that chocolate I pick up on? No, no no . . . vanilla, then? Much more likely.)

The wood and spice/pepper notes are very linear here, much more so even than in the often compared TdH.

A good Montale? Yes. A great Montale? No. The juice is not, IMHO, commensurate with the posh Parisian price tag. Still, a weak thumbs up for quality ingredients, great sillage, awesome longevity and skillful blending.

Red Vetyver is a more natural smelling Terre d'Hermes. I'm wearing both as I type this, gave Red Vetyver a couple full wearings already and it's still quite difficult to tell them apart. It may be my untrained nose, or it may be that they just don't have that much difference between them. Good scent, albeit unoriginal. I give it a tentative thumbs up...

Like others have said, this does smell very, very similar to Terre D’Hermes. In my mind, that’s a good thing though. Although I’m sure both RV and TdH smell pretty different next to each other, they would probably smell the same to an unsuspecting nose.

The main difference between the two is that Red Vetyver replaces the orange of TdH with grapefruit, and seems to take it easier on the synthetics. RV is better IMO, since it seems to have less of that synthetic dirt/mineral note + Iso E Super combination that annoys me in TdH.


I’m pretty sure this was released after TdH, meaning it’s not very original (and a pretty blatant copy of TdH!), however I do like it better than TdH. Seeing as how this an improvement and not a cheap rip-off (like Unforgivable by Sean Jean making a sh*tty version of Creed’s Millisime Imperial), I feel compelled to give this an unbiased rating, regardless of copyright infringement.

8/10

I loved this scent the 1st time I wore it. Liked its spices, but they are not like Piper Nigrum, or Rose Poivree. Rather, this is more gentle, and warm as Foetidus said. No mint, but maybe pink peppers. Then the second time I wore it, I was expecting a sillage monster and did not get that. I was wanting it to be this loud, show stopper, better-make-sure-I-don't-use-more-than-two-sprays scent like Black Aoud. But the more I wear it, the more I get back to the wowness of the 1st wearing. Don't really know why that is, but it is. I like to spray this on my arms as well as the crook of my neck, just right near the shoulder blades. This scent really does linger and last, though it does not project like Aoud Limes or Black Aoud or Rose Petals. But it is stronger than a regular Eau de Toilette. How do I know? Well, at lunch, after wearing it for five hours, I passed within 4 feet of a lady heading in the opposite direction. When she was ten feet past me, and we were just walking past each other, she shouted out that wow, I smelled good. This was in an office building. So its sillage is more than what your nose may think. It has a different sort of spiciness to it, not like the heavy spices in some scents that are black pepper, or cloves, or something assaultive. Now, I am not a vetiver lover, so this Haitian vetiver must be a different sort than that in Guerlains, or Floris. The scent works for me, and is versatile. You can wear it with a suit, but it is not authoritative. You can wear it with shorts and a polo shirt to that backyard patio party, but it is not whimsical. I wore this as a sample in August heat in Memphis, Tn, and it wore well, and it wears well so far into the fall (middle October)

Red Vetyver is a different approach to vetiver: It comes on spicy and warm. I suppose the purpose for its warmth is to contrast with the coolness of vetiver. The problem with this is that I haven’t been able to find the vetiver: The accord gives almost every evidence that the vetiver is there, but I can’t quite pull out the identifiable vetiver note. The same goes for the grapefruit note. I do not find any “coolness” in the form of grapefruit: The pepper, patchouli, and cedar predominate to my nose to the point of becoming ethereally aromatic.

In spite of the lack of identifiable vetiver, grapefruit, and cool, I thoroughly enjoy this fragrance. I find the rather linear spicy wood accord very rich in itself and particularly enjoyable – addictive even. Furthermore, The scent has a excellent longevity and good projection: Its rich and masculine aroma is particularly inviting and wearable. Red Vetyver is, along with Blue Amber, the best Montale non-aoud I’ve tried. Looks like another purchase.

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