On Kleinood farm we have always put terroir first in the wine we make.
So too, it is ever present in our extra virgin olive oil and honey.
Why then, if one could taste terroir,
could one not wear it and smell it and smell of it?
de Boerin of Kleinood Farm brings you
WINTER WATER
from
the deep-winter
kleinood forest
the wet
the bark
the droplets on leaves
moss and mist
the pale
bare branches
weeping
over
clear-with-cold
gushing, rushing
ever-new
silver
winter water
“The water has a different quality in winter.
It certainly has something to do with the rainwater
washing vegetation into the river,
but it’s more than that…”
notes of
WINTER WATER
A River In Winter
Minerals & Mould
Rainwater On Leaves
A Fallen Tree, Dead Bark
Roots & Resin
Heavy Boots On Undergrowth
Lichens, Moss & Fungi
Faraway Smoke & Cold Wet Earth
terroir-driven scents
with de Boerin & Saint d’Ici
It started with almost nothing
– an idea, a passing thought, a desire –
a dream of capturing the essence of the farm
in molecules of natural and unadulterated
tinctures and essential oils.
Marie Aoun of Saint d’Ici is a natural perfumer using only truly natural botanical ingredients in the form of absolutes, tinctures and essential oils. Botanical ingredients are grown, harvested and extracted – a time-consuming process that is fraught with unpredictability.
On Kleinood our ethos has always been to put terroir first in our wine, olive oil and honey. Thus, the perfumes from de Boerin of Kleinood are about terroir – the seasons, the place, the plants, the sunlight, the water and the soul of our soil.
It was therefore a very simple decision to collaborate with an ethical African perfumer who truly respects terroir and endeavours to capture the natural bouquet of a specific place and time through a delicate and complex process of science and passion.
The world was caught in the first wave of a frightening pandemic when we met virtually for the first time. Everybody knew it would be a while before we would be able to work together physically.
We started to collect samples of botanical material from the Kleinood forest and sent parcels with pictures of the farm and moss and wood and bark and rotten leaves and soil. Marie sent parcels of unlabelled scents.
We shared ideas and feelings, memories and experiences and tried to create the essence of the farm in words.
When she could eventually visit the farm, Marie came armed with precious boxes and bottles of possible combinations, tinctures and oils. We spent hours talking, walking, smelling, exchanging thoughts, creating and changing small details of whiffs, bottom notes, middle notes and top notes and then, finally, bottled together in the small flower room on the farm the first of Winter Water.
Whilst teaching us why the dynamics and beauty of the unique chemical structure of each natural botanical ingredient cannot be replicated or confined to the social norms of commercial, chemically formulated perfumes, Marie got to know and understand the singular character and soul of Kleinood farm in all its diversity.
Ultimately, this was not only a strange but wonderfully serendipitous process of collaboration of shared passions, but also a manifestation of our shared belief, that in order to preserve the integrity of our ingredients and environment, we can and must work with them in the fullness of what they are.
Marie translated words into scents.
“The light is especially atmospheric in winter.
Sometimes not quite making it into the spaces below the canopy.
There’s a glow of appreciation when it does.”
keepsake
packaging
An infinitely complex and dynamic natural perfume –
inspired by a long, cold & wet winter
in the forest of Kleinood farm,
made with endless love and dedication,
stored in an almost-black, small and precious bottle,
with a handmade cork top,
dressed in a snug coat of hand felted wool,
for an everlasting winter,
to be worn and savoured as you wish.
Winter Water is bottled in a 50ml Miron Violet Glass bottle, with a screw-on cap and spray top.
Why Miron Violet Glass? Since ancient times, mankind has tried to protect its most valuable products against the damaging effects of light. The early Egyptians preserved their precious substances in gold or violet jars. However, now, most coloured glass – clear, amber, blue and green – allow visible light to pass through, and so it does not offer protection against decomposition processes.
Miron Violet Glass does not allow light from the visible spectrum to penetrate, but is transparent in the infrared spectrum. Due to this special combination, sensitive materials like natural oils are protected against the processes of decomposition.
The bottle is labelled with the minimum amount of recycled paper, which is glued onto the bottle by hand with an environmentally friendly, vegetable glue that contains no animal products.
The Winter Water cork tops are individually turned by hand in Cape Town by local designer Laurie Wiid.
The bottle is then carefully slipped into a hand-felted, unbranded, merino wool bag with a simple recycled paper tag around the neck. Unlike traditional cardboard and cellophane perfume packaging, this pretty little bag is made by hand by women in Fishhoek, Cape Town.
As with all de Boerin products, this packaging is recycled, recyclable and re-usable, which allows you to decide how much you want to let go to waste.
Winter Water Eau de Parfum is exclusively available online
& from The Cupboard of Curiosities on Kleinood Farm.
To Wearing Winter,
Kleinood
