Raiders of the Lost Scent: CORIOLAN (Guerlain, 1998)

Top: Bergamot, lemon, neroli, clary sage,

Heart: Ginger, Juniper, nutmeg, ylang-ylang,

Base: Patchouli, oakmoss, vetiver, benzoin,

Nose : Jean Paul Guerlain
year: 1998
Longevity high (7 hours)
Sillage: high
Rating: 10/10

An unique bottle, an extraordinary scent, a long and incredible drydown, an unusual history, a resounding commercial failure. "Coriolan", a masculine scent from Guerlain, launched in 1998, was all these things, and even more.

Coriolan: a perfume "like they do not make them anymore" (as Monsieur Guerlain reviews it), it's probably the best description possible.
A fragrance coming from ancient times.... Jean Paul Guerlain began the "Coriolan project" already in the mid-Eighties, fifteen years before its launch. Coriolan was intended as the continuation of Derby (1985), since the two scents were "designed" in sequence. The initial name of Derby was originally intended as "Centurion"; similarly, this name should have been the prerogative of its successor. At the last moment, however, this name was again discarded, and replaced by "Coriolan". But before this, a lot of things happened...
A troubled story . In 1996, Guerlain, under the wings of LVMH, launched a new fragrance, not as a Guerlain classic creation, but through a selection, open to a few participants. History tells that the perfume presented by Jean Paul Guerlain was discarded in favor of the one presented by Olivier Cresp, and launched with the name of "Champs Elysees". The last straw was the fact that, for marketing purposes, Champs Elysees had to presented as "a fragrance by Jean Paul Guerlain". To compensate this embarrassing situation, during the following year, the old perfumer was granted to launch a new project, according to his choice. The old, long-awaited "Centurion 2 project" was dusted off. A project, however, suffering from an insurmountable problem: the different historical time. Coriolan happened to be already "dated" even before launch. Place on the market a perfume conceived in the early 80s at the turn of the Millennium was a dangerous gamble.
A bitter end. For the "Centurion 2 project" no expense was spared: the bottle is, even today, a piece of art, unique in its form of ancient gunpowder flask. The scent itself is unmistakably a superb one, made with high quality ingredients. Bergamot, lemon, juniper, clary sage; then ginger, ylang-ylang, nutmeg. Finally, oakmoss, vetiver, patchouli, and benzoin. The outcome was something really unique. Coriolan is one of those scents that, once you smell, you cannot forget it. Years later, someone will call him "one of the best drydown ever". Yet, incredibly, LVMH announced that sales were very disappointing, and after just four years, in 2001, the production was interrupted. What happened? There are two opinions: the first states that Coriolan was a perfume too far "out of his time", too "dated", too "classic", unsuitable in a period where perfumes were addressed in another direction: "an old gentleman scent during the advent of the Internet Age: it could not work".
The second opinion affirms that Coriolan was outside the IFRA rules, and could no longer continue to be produced except under drastic reformulations that would ruined it.

Now, it's time for Justice. After many years in which Coriolan was among cheapies in the perfumery shops, sold at (really) ridiculous prices, the scent was honored by Guerlain, exactly ten years after its launch, in 2008, with L'Ame d'un Heros, a limited-edition fragrance that resembles closely the old Coriolan (but at a much higher price).
Today Coriolan can be appreciated for what it is: a wonderful masculine scent that appears more "ancient" than it actually is.
A Jean Paul Guerlain's Masterpiece. The old great perfumer deserves this honor, creating a perfume "addressed to failure" without compromising with modern fashions.

The production, as said, was limited to just four years. The real value of a bottle produced from 1998 to 2001 is expected to grow, due to the originality of the bottle, and to the value of the perfume itself.