The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Un Dejeuner Sous La Tonnelle translates to lunch under the arbor, Rose et Marius's answer to a specific Provençal moment. The house had already established its language: scent as memory, place as poetry. This one captures the pause in the middle of a summer afternoon, when the heat demands shade and the table holds what's left of the wine. Patrick Bodifee built the composition around that image, fruit that reads like a glass of rosé, florals that smell like the garden just beyond reach. Not a literal translation. Something closer to the feeling of being there.
What makes this composition unusual is how the blackcurrant liqueur behaves. It's not the sharp, catty blackcurrant of so many fragrances, it arrives with wine-like depth, as if the berries have already been crushed and pressed. That accord, combined with lychee's tropical softness, creates an opening that feels both fresh and mature. The rose-tuberose pairing in the heart is where many fragrances get lost, tuberose can overwhelm, but here the two florals balance each other. Rose provides structure. Tuberose provides warmth. Neither dominates. The result is a heart that smells lush without becoming heavy, the way a garden smells at midday in August.
The evolution
The opening arrives immediately, blackcurrant and blackberry bringing berry sweetness with a wine-like depth that feels rich and inviting. Lychee softens what could be sharpness into something rounder, more tropical, adding a gentle floral edge. By the time the heart emerges, the berries have settled into the composition, making space for the florals to take their turn. Ylang-ylang, patchouli, and jasmine create something lush and heady, bordering on intoxicating. This is the phase where skin chemistry matters most, the tuberose quality of the jasmine blooming differently on each wearer. The base arrives quietly, sandalwood and white cedar extract creating warmth while white musk keeps the composition close to the skin, intimate and lingering. The scent stays close for hours, revealing new facets as it evolves.
Cultural impact
Un Dejeuner Sous La Tonnelle belongs to the Capsule Collection, a curated series of fragrances that evoke the sensory moments of Provençal life. The scent translates the experience of tasting a great rosé wine into wearable form, balancing fruity warmth with sunlit brightness. Its character is deeply evocative of long afternoons in the south of France, where meals stretch under shaded trellises and time slows to the rhythm of cicadas.
