Alphée
Eau de Parfum, Spoturno (2025)

Over the next couple of weeks I will be taking a deep dive into the offerings of Spoturno, and since I'm not sure where to start - nor do I want to learn that much about the individual fragrances before smelling them - I am opting to start in alphabetical order, making Alphee the first. New perfumes and houses come and go at the rate of a dime-a-dozen, but, like the rest of us perfume enthusiasts, Spoturno really caught my attention for two reasons. The first is that it was started by Veronique Spoturno Coty. The surname should ring a bell; she's the great-granddaughter of the father of modern perfumery, Joseph Marie Francois Spoturno Coti. Coti being the maternal surname, and Francois changed it to Coty when he began his perfume brand. Most famous for creating the chypre genre with his perfume of the same name, his innovative and forward-thinking techniques, materials, and perfumes would go on to inspire (and be imitated by) the likes of Jacques Guerlain, Ernest Beaux and Henri Robert of Chanel, and others. It's the stuff of historical legend. The brand have given themselves the mandate of resurrecting that legacy, an incredibly tall order worthy of attention. The Coty brand still exists, and you will also note that Spoturno very gingerly sidesteps the Coty name or any reference to the brand of-then or now. Presumably, as evidence will ascribe, this is because today's Coty is far more capable of being litigious than they are of creating excellent perfumes. Ms. Spoturno Coty seems to want to pick up where they have been long recently failing.

The second reason the launch caught my attention was because of who the brand hired to help them resurrect this legacy: Christopher Sheldrake. Spoturno already had my keen interest, but upon reading this I sat bolt-upright in my chair. Mr. Sheldrake is one of the greatest perfumers of the last century and probably in contention for the greatest living. Among his many pursuits, establishing himself as a master at Lutens after commendably cutting his teeth at Givaudan (Quest) and Robertet, he is also now the Director of Research and Development for Chanel's perfume division, having provided guidance thus far in that position to the likes of Jacques and Olivier Polge. That experience is important in the context of Spoturno because the Chanel directorship gives him a lot of runway to play around with novel materials and techniques, and also the very deep pockets of Chanel to do so quickly and thoroughly without having to sweat the bottom line too much. How do you resurrect the past, when you can't really smell those perfumes anymore, you only have formulas, and most of those materials Coty would have used are long gone? Science is the only answer, and so there is no better place to get help than with a master perfumer and the scientific director for one of the biggest and best houses in history. Mr. Sheldrake's services most certainly don't come cheaply either. This all tells me that Spoturno is taking this very, very seriously.

Now, what about Alphee? Have Spoturno and Sheldrake succeeded in resurrecting the glory, legacy, and innovation that comes with the name Coty? In a word, no. Even if I were to back-off of my expectations for this collaboration to a substantial degree, the answer would still be no. And there is a very clear reason why that I will get to in a second. But first, the way this perfume opens is beautifully refreshing. Massive doses of bergamot are rounded out by droplets of oranges, and crushed myrtle and juniper berries. It smells the way sunshine feels during a care-free ideal vacation on the Med of Southern Europe. What's most notable and impressive about the opening is that it is so very strong but from a distance. It is easy for these types of notes to feel like they are blasting you in the face, tickling your nose to an almost uncomfortable degree and making your eyes water, and that strength is there in Alphee but it is beautifully round, smooth, and keeps its distance so as to not oppress you with its strength. The top dries down to a heart of vividly white floral jasmine and neroli that comfortably carry-on the bright, sparkling, and strong character of the top notes. The holes are filled in very nicely with a fresh coriander note, the successor of the more herbal notes of the myrtle and juniper from the top. The heart reaffirms the feeling delivered in the opening, and the purpose of this perfume: energy. Throughout the life of Alphee, from the moment it is sprayed to the final moment when the skin scent disappears, it has an infectious energy and strength that is contained happiness, warmth, and aloofness. The final dry down to the base and the ending skin scent of vetiver and musks leaves you feeling clean and refreshed, accomplished but with the energy to do more.

Alphee is a very pleasant perfume. Easily wearable and enjoyable. With those compliments come some criticisms. The first is that, for the expensive EdP it is, you have to spray a significant amount of it in order to get any longevity or a detectable evolution of accords. The second, and most importantly, for Spoturno with its mandate of resurrecting a legendary name with a perfumer of Sheldrake's abilities, Alphee is almost unforgivably derivative. Here was a chance to use the Coty name to do something innovative with the citrusy floral, of which there have been thousands, but instead Spoturno and Sheldrake gave us something "typical." On the merits and standards with which I judge all perfumes, Alphee is quite good, I have to admit. But it's certainly not special, not even in the realm of the word. If we didn't have the history behind the launch of the Spoturno brand, and if we didn't know this was Sheldrake, I couldn't levy these criticisms, could I? Of course not. But I do know these things. You know these things. Spoturno wanted us to know these things. And they didn't deliver on them. I shall remain in hope that the other Spoturno perfumes I have yet to try succeed where Alphee fell short.