The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Notes of Merlot Reserve came together in 2016 under perfumer Kelly Jones, part of the Notes of Wine Collection that reimagines varietals as wearable scent. The brand draws its lineup from vineyards and agave fields, translating the aromatic profile of a specific grape into something you wear instead of drink. For Merlot, the inspiration arrived as an image: a Brooklyn kitchen, friends around a table, bottles uncorked, city stories trading across glasses. The brand's own note on the fragrance captures the mood. "We rushed underground and onto the Brooklyn-bound train. The stop was just outside an ordinary rowhouse, and a friend's kitchen table. We uncorked bottles of Merlot and city stories. Red Currant and Rhubarb were velvet on our tongues." That scene, equal parts wine and warmth, became the scent's blueprint.
What's interesting here is how Jones builds a wine-inspired composition without leaning on oud or the usual gourmand shortcuts. Rhubarb and red currant carry the fruit, but the violet and orris root pull the whole thing into powdery territory, closer to a dusty cellar than a candy shop. Grapefruit adds a green snap at the top, a crisp brightness that lifts the red fruit rather than flattening it. Fig and hay ground the base with the kind of warm, sun-struck depth that reads as vineyard rather than orchard. The sugar note isn't doing dessert.
The evolution
The opening is the loudest part. Rhubarb and grapefruit hit bright, almost tart, the green snap sitting over red fruit like a just-poured glass catching light. As the composition warms against skin, the red currant and violet settle in, and the whole thing turns softer, dustier, more intimate. Orris takes over the heart, adding that powdery iris-toast warmth that makes the fragrance feel worn-in rather than fresh, like a velvet chair in a tasting room. Over time, the fig and hay arrive, warm and golden, with the sugar note deepening into something closer to amber than confection. By the later stages, what's left is a soft trail of violet and rose over a hay-honey warmth, a quiet hum rather than a statement. It reads as a close-skin composition once the opening fruit has burned off, the kind of scent you'd catch only by leaning in.
Cultural impact
Notes of Merlot Reserve reads as a fragrance that takes its source material seriously, treating wine not as decoration but as the structural blueprint for the composition. The blend draws on fruit, floral, and earthy notes to suggest the full arc of a glass, from the first pour to the dregs. It appeals to wearers curious about what scent can borrow from other sensory traditions, and who appreciate when a fragrance has a point of view beyond simple freshness or sweetness. The result is a composition that invites conversation, the kind of scent someone might ask about across a dinner table.
