The Zadok Allen Vineyard

[megank4]

A deep velvety Cabernet Sauvignon with hints of plum, black cherry, rose petals, coffee bean, and smoky oak. Barrel and bottle aged, with a smooth and spicy hit mid-palate. Hints of Dagon's tarry black incense and clotted blood complete this well-rounded, robust indulgence.

In the bottle, this smells like everything I hate- a deep red wine scent. (well, actually, I love red wine, just not ON me)
Living up to my motto of always skin testing a fragrance, I dab some on.
Yep, hate.
Smells like wine and something burnt. Edited April 4, 2010 by Shollin

[fairestrocza]

In the Bottle: red wine, and something sharp, like non-drinkable alcohol

 

Wet on Skin: less wine, more of the sharp note

While Drying: wine, plum, and roses

 

After a Little While: I'm not really feeling this one. It is both boozy and perfumey - an odd combination on me.

 

Later: Late drydown is not bad, but I have a hard time getting through the initial stages. Obviously the wrong chemistry for this scent, because it is beautiful on my friend.

 

Final Thoughts: I much prefer Athens if I am looking for a red wine scent.

The Zadok Allen Vineyard earns a 2.5/5 on my skin.

 

[edenssixthday]

The Zadok Allen Vineyard - Holy smokes, folks, this is amazing! I ran a decant group over on LJ, and the whole time I was decanting this, I was kind of grossed out by the uber-wine scent, and so, when I had a partial bottle left over, I sold it. Now, I'm kicking myself for doing that. I wish I had more than just a couple drops left! This is gorgeous on me. Yes, it opens up with a BLAST -- a REALLY HUGE blast -- of wine, but that quickly settles down and behind comes the dark juiciness of the plum and cherry, as well as the faintest hint of rose, which is very soft, gentle, and slightly powdery, and then there's the smoky wood and dark, heavy incense and the faintest coppery tinge of blood running through it. . If I wouldn't have seen the scent description, I'd have guessed there was dark myrrh in this, which must be the sweetness of the blood combined with the black incense. I will be buying a bottle, and I can totally see this becoming my go-to scent when I want something dark, heavy, and very sexy. Throw is about average and it has higher-than-average longevity.

[doublehelix]

in the imp: strong red wine

 

wet on skin: less wine, more fruits and especially plum notes. very sweet, warm and fruity.

 

dry on skin: wine and fruit. something about this has a sort of baked goods smell, like a fruit pastry.

[ravenscanary]

Source: Second-hand half-decant.

 

In the imp: All red wine, with a hint of what I think is the "aged oak" giving it a bit of bitterness.

 

Wet: Wine and cherry, predominantly, with a pleasantly bitter undertone of smoky wood and coffee. This is really rich and well-blended. The lab's wine note works well on me, and this scent is no exception.

 

Dry: The sweet richness of the wine fades, and the dry smoke and coffee come out more on me. This is still excellent and pleasant. Unfortunately...

 

Notes: This doesn't last and has almost no throw. My skin eats this like the desert sucks up water. I've reapplied heavily from my decant three times on the back of my hand and I still have to press my nose into my own hand to smell it at all. It's really too bad - I love the scent, but it doesn't wear at all.

[heleng]

Wet- wonderful full bodied red wine- I really want to drink this but I don't want to smell like it.

On skin - as soon as it touches my skin, I get vetiver, vetiver that stays and does not let the coffee out.

Dry-disappears all too quickly leaving a faint plummy incense.

I like this, I may need to seek out a full imp of a partial bottle.

[CreamyJade]

In the decant: Smokey wine with a touch of wood.

Wet on skin: All smoke and no wine (!!), plus some spicy fragrant woods. Promising!

Dry on skin: I get a hint of leather & smoke, a faint rose.

Final thoughts: Not thinking it through when I chose this year's Luper decants, I thought "I'd drink a wine like that" when choosing the Zadok Allen Vineyard, as most wine scents usually turn either sour or super grapey on me (which is not pleasant). I was pleasantly surprised by this one, which ended up smokey, though a bit too floral for me. Fun scent though, what a morpher!

Try if you like: Desire, Montresor

[Dark Alice]

This smells of rancid wine. Rancid wine with hints of grape. Must. Wash. Off.

[reynardine]

Blarg…wine and something really nasty. Actually, it smells like a rat that died in a wine barrel. Ick.

[fairnymph]

Dry, slightly sour and vinegary grapey wine, lots of SMOKY wood - much darker and sharper and smokier and woodier than I expected.

 

A little sweeter - that coffee bean comes out, as well as bit more floral, a lovely soft pink smelling rose note. Some black cherry and plum, too! Much brighter and pinker/purple as opposed to brownish black (as in the bottle), in feel. But the wine's still very sour-vinegar and this is still very smoky and woody (think the black oak note from Antikythera Mechanism). I get the tang of blood - maybe that contributes to the sourness. Not really any dragon's blood, thank god!

 

This is settling down and coming together nicely, surprisingly quickly, too. The heavy wood and smoke have softened, and overall this blend has faded and quieted. The sourness of the wine has calmed, the coffee's less sweet and obvious. It's mostly the purple fruits and soft pink rose with a slightly boozy dark wood background - nice - and a little blood to keep things interesting. Reminds me now a bit of the Blood Garden, but much darker and less fruity.

 

This is one of those blends that just becomes more and more cohesive and seamless over time. It's dark fruit and even darker wood with just that touch of fresh, girly rose to keep it from being totally opressive. I don't mind the smokiness - it reminds me of - or might even BE - tobacco, which I like in perfume. The plum note is particularly lovely and overt in this, and really, the only thing that makes me feel iffy about this blend - beyond it being 'dark and smoky' - is the hint of coffee - it just makes this foody in a way that mars the blend for me.

 

Yeah, the bitter, black, and eventually a bit stale - definitely not the typical coffee note, but the same one from the BTOD2 proto - coffee, what I suspect is some smoky-gritty vetiver, and the oak - definitely that intense black oak note from the AM - make this just too dark and bitter for me. These dark/bitter note have intense throw on me, almost nauseatingly and I can only smell the lovely fruit, rose, and slight tang of blood if I sniff very closely, so this just doesn't work. As said - very strong throw and good longevity, too. I'd call this more masculine to unisex.

 

[musichappens]

Upon initial application I detected a strong berry-ish red wine with just a hint of coffee. As it dries down the coffee seems to disappear and is replaced with something more sinister (dragon's blood and incense, perhaps?). The dry down reminds me of a brick/blood red color and is just absolutely beautiful, but I don't think I'll need a full bottle of this one. Off to hunt for a partial!

[milo]

Wet, I mostly get a strong wine scent with roses petals. As it dries, more of the wood comes out and lots of yummy spicey incense. This kind of reminds me of Gluhwein, but with less wine. The wine is really just an afterthought in this lovely blend after it dries. I really like this, but have Gluhwein already, so I think the imp is enough. I think this would be better suited to fall/winter weather.

[Iceblink]

SMOKE. This is as strong as Brimstone at first...smoke with something winey far underneath. The drydown is mostly wine with sweet dragon's blood and woods, and the smoke has calmed down. Way too winey for me though and that smoke note is just not good on me.

[Ondine]

Wine and vetiver. And then it's gone within a minute?! No lasting power.

[backthatelfup]

In the bottle: BOOZE! My brain thinks, 'drink this!' Wine.

 

Wet: Wine dries down; a bit of the smokiness comes out, which is DELIGHTFUL...but short lived. Fruits emerge big time.

 

Dry: Fruit. This reminds me of the fruit in Miller v. Cali. Juicy. No incense? No coffee? Hm. Throw is good for a few hours, as I can smell it as I'm doing various things (typing, cooking, etc.)

[maproot]

read a review and thought of my beloved but gone red lantern(it was my first bpal lurve) so procured a bottle from a kind forumite!! And WINE OMG I do have a hard time not drinking from the little bottle-it does smell red wine-ish most certainly and is sweet,but not a foody sweet, dfinitely juciy.Alas, I dont get any coffee from this but its a definite keeper bottle-hoping fordark adult booziness and thats what I got!!

[SpookyBunny]

 

In the bottle:

Definitely VINEGAR, a loud vinegar, almost exactly like apple cider vinegar with an oniony undertone to it. I was a little scared to try it, but knew that it would get better once applied.

 

Wearing:

Okay, right away it changed, and it is ABSOLUTELY gorgeous. It is a dark fruity wine, very very dark..heady, sexual even. Coffee warms it up and I can sense the rose overlaying everything. It is a candyish rose and makes this a very sweet and valentines-y scent despite the potent darkness lingering underneath.

The rose gets more prominent as things dry-down but it is specifically sugary, like a rosewater cake amidst glasses of wine.

 

Overall impression:

This is a sexy, whimsical, and romantic scent. Fitting for Lupercalia. Has AMAZING throw.

[lefthandmade]

This is nothing short of amazing. I get a hint of vetiver at first and then it morphs into a deep dark red wine with a serious but gorgeous twist. Oh man bottle here.

[marcielynnt]

In the decant I get the smell of vinegar, and something darker... smoke? It's a scent I also pick up from Brimstone, and I don't like it.

 

Wet, the vinegar is less pronounced, but I don't smell wine, exactly. The dark, smoky stench is still there, and still unpleasant.

 

Dry, this mellows and sweetens slightly. If not for hints of that smoky scent I think I might like it. This may be something I have to try again. It certainly gets nicer as it spends more time on my skin.

[kikithepirate]

Despite feeling wary upon reading the reviews, I went ahead and ordered a bottle of this in my recent order. I'm really glad that I did, despite the fact that I have never really liked a BPAL wine scent (most end up turning rather plastic-smelling on me) or coffee note (again, they all start off lovely and end up wonky) and after trying MB Closet, I crossed cherry off my list, too. But what do you know -- this bottle ended up being a keeper!

 

The wine is a dry red wine -- definitely not sweet, though after the scent has settled, a pleasant fruity sweetness does come out. It's VERY strong at first -- someone with me could tell I was wearing "that wine perfume" all the way from the other room. But luckily, after it dries, it settles into a really warm, comforting, fruity wine smell, and I absolutely love it. I haven't had anyone at work ask whether or not I've been showering in wine this morning, so I think I can safely rule out the "people will think I'm an alcoholic" issue.

 

I encourage people to give this a try -- it's a major morpher, and smells way better on my skin that it does in the bottle.

[ami226]

Tart yet earthy. Smells like bad wine. Icky.

 

Whoa! Suddenly it turns very sweet. Must be the blood note? Sweet blood note with an earthy undertone. Definitely not for me.

[sprocket21]

My experience is similar to many of those that have already been posted - huge blast of wine accompanied by another earthy/sharp note. The earthy note seems appropriate to me, as the vineyard in question is Lovecraftian in nature, but it just doesn't work for me. I was hoping that the wine would be a bit calmer and that I would get more of the "hints" in the description. As is though, I smell like I've been downing a bottle of spoiled Two Buck Chuck. Eep!

[wl552]

At first it's a blast of that smoky oak. I don't really like that so much. I don't mind some smoke or wood notes, but this is just ugh.

 

Then, something amazing happens!

 

Dried, it becomes this lush, rich, somewhat sweet cherry-plum wine. It's gorgeous! Waaaaaay in the back, if I really sniff deeply, I can sort of pick out a warm coffee bean note. Well, actually that's more on my shirt sleeve than skin. Dried, this really reminds me of Head of Holofernes, which I adore; it must be the blood and wine. I'm definitely keeping my bottle of The Zadok Allen Vineyard for sure!

[thekittenkat]

In the imp: Lots of coffee bean, incense and oak!

 

Wet: Blood and wine for starters. Slowly, ever so slowly the plum, cherry, and rose make their faint presence known. (Okay, so there are supposed to be hints.)

 

Dry: All the notes are slowly melding into a nice Cabernet Sauvignon. A tad sweeter as it dries down, and that's probably from the fruits. I must admit that I'm not much of a connoisseur of red wines, though, either to drink or to wear. But if you like this wine, you may like this perfume oil. It was certainly a morpher on my skin.

[Schmoozy]

Dry red wine, coffee bean, aged wood and incense. It's a robust scent with alot of things going on as it dries down. Unfortunately the black cherry, and incense and blood overpower everything else, and I find it to be a little much.