The magic of roses in Provence … shoot!

8 o'clock in the morning, daybreak, the atmosphere is still a little misty and we're off to the hills around Grasse.

After a few bends on a winding road and a couple of houses, we arrive in the middle of a field of roses whose petals are still covered with morning dew. As we get out of the car, we are swept away by the heady scent of May roses.

The pickers are already at work, some carrying their baby on their backs, all singing away in a joyful atmosphere!

Nicolas, the producer, explains that these are jobs "done" by Travellers and handed down from generation to generation. They are paid by the harvest, by the weight of the petals picked.

Marinette, the eldest of them, shows us how to pick the rosebuds without damaging them. They are picked early in the morning to preserve the olfactory qualities of the roses.

And a few minutes later, it's our turn... not without a certain apprehension but under the approving eyes of Marinette. A real work of precisions and quality and a magnificent sight!

when the filming was finished, we headed for the offices of Robertet for a meeting with the regulatory team to work on our ingredients specifications (Robertet is world leader in natural raw materials).

The aim is to reconcile olfactory and gustatory quality in terms of product labelling.

We all present our constraints and Robertet those of perfumers, flavourists and regulatory ones, and terre d’Oc, theirs.

A constructive meeting where we worked intelligently with the teams to obtain new flavours!

Robertet is 400 sourced botanical species, extraction units, distillers, filtration tanks and a research and development unit.

Robertet employs 500 people, including 30 regulatory, 12 perfumers, 25 flavourists and assessors.

Our day ends with a visit of the "research and development" building where the perfumers in their office with a view over the sea, passionately start their creative work.

These formulas then pass through the hands of the assessors who smell, taste and check the compliance with the client's brief. It is then the turn of the application laboratory to assemble all the components imagined by the perfumer or the flavourist and to make samples for customer tests and stability studies.

From that moment, customer supplier feedback until the ideal formula for all is obtained.

A world where all the professions are important: from the small plant producer, to the pickers, distillers, the regulatory department, the assessors, the perfumers and flavourists to the formulaters.

An exciting journey in a bend of creativity, rigour and precision for the pleasure of our senses!

Virginie J. 23rd May 2019
Quality and regulatory manager