The Story
Why it exists.
The beginning
Torroella de Montgrí is a medieval town in the Empordà region of Catalonia, the same landscape where Santi Burgas operates. The fragrance takes its name from that place, the dry Mediterranean hillsides laced with cypress and fir balsam. Launched in 2018 as part of the Primal Waters trilogy, it was created by Rodrigo Flores-Roux alongside Santiago Burgas himself. The composition reads as a direct translation of place: aromatic plants that grow wild along the coast, and the dry cedar warmth of an afternoon that refuses to cool. You notice the cypress first, cool and slightly green, with a resinous undertone that keeps it from smelling medicinal. Fir balsam adds a darker, stickier sweetness, the kind of woodsiness that recalls bark warmed by late sun.
What's unusual here is the note structure's refusal to behave. Cypress, fir, eucalyptus, rosemary, sage, thyme, lavender, chamomile. Eleven aromatic materials in the heart, and somehow none of them cancel each other out. The trick is the resin scaffolding underneath: labdanum absolute and cistus doing the heavy lifting as anchors, so the herbs never read as a kitchen garden or a spa candle. It's a cologne structure reimagined for people who found traditional cologne too thin, too fleeting.
The evolution
The first ten minutes are almost confrontational. Fir and eucalyptus hit with a camphoraceous snap that reads more like a pharmacy shelf than a perfume counter. The Mediterranean cypress layers in next, drier, greener, with a mineral edge that feels like limestone dust in the air. By the thirty-minute mark, the herbal heart has fully taken over: rosemary and thyme pushing forward, chamomile softening the corners, sage adding a dusty almost-medicinal depth. Pineappleweed weaves through everything, a subtle chamomile-medicinal thread that most people won't identify but everyone notices. The two-hour point is when the composition becomes most itself: all that herb and resin settling into a warm, low-key hum where labdanum and cedarwood take turns at the surface. Six hours in, the fir has long since vanished. The eucalyptus is a memory. What's left is a close-skin drydown of dry wood and sticky-sweet resin that still carries a trace of rosemary. On fabric, the cedar lingers past eight hours.
Cultural impact
Torroella de Montgrí wears into a specific niche: the person who wants the aromatic clarity of a traditional cologne but finds most modern interpretations too fleeting or too sweet. The Catalan sensibility keeps it from feeling like a museum reproduction, rooted instead in a particular place and a particular way of thinking about herbs. Wearers tend to describe it as a thinking person's cologne, something that rewards attention rather than demanding it.
The House
Santi BurgasSanti Burgas is a Spanish fragrance house founded by Santiago Burgas in 2008, based in the Empordà region of Catalonia. The brand operates from an converted storehouse that once served as a rice-drying facility. Santi Burgas produces Eau de Parfum and Attar浓度的个性化签名香水。The house presents fragrances in themed collections, including the White Collection, which premiered at Esxence in Milan during 2015. Notable releases span conceptual works like the Palindrome series alongside more place-inspired compositions including Torroella de Montgrí and New York City. The brand has released over twenty fragrances since its founding, with a catalog that draws from classic 1970s and 1980s cologne traditions.
The Creator
Rodrigo Flores-RouxFlores-Roux gravitates toward bold, characterful compositions with strong sillage and distinct personalities. He excels at balancing opulent florals against warm woods and resins, and has a particular gift for citrus and neroli interpretations that feel neither precious nor fl…
