Welcome to the new home of soon-to-launch Louis Vuitton perfumes, plus sibling Parfums Christian Dior (Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior are both owned by LVMH): a restored seventeenth century perfumery in Grasse, France, with the enchanted name “Les Fontaines Parfumees”, or “The Perfumed Fountains.” It joins the previous purchase and restoration by Parfums Christian Dior of the Chateau de la Colle Noire, twelve miles away in Callian and former home of the legendary designer Christian Dior himself.

Well. I would love to visit either of these beautiful sites but I have a feeling they will be off-limits to regular tourists, saving themselves for fabulous soirees like this year’s Dior dinner. Luckily, the Chateau de la Colle Noire has already inspired a new Dior fragrance, launched earlier this year: La Colle Noire. I was able to test it at one of the niche fragrance boutiques now at Heathrow airport.

Kafkaesque has an extensive review of it here, which I can’t hope to approach in detail, especially on the basis of a single spray in an airport terminal. I will say that like her, I found it to be a remarkably pretty, natural rose-based scent with undisputed polish and elegance. Unlike her, I really do love rose fragrances, and if La Colle Noire were not so expensive, I would certainly put it on my to-buy list. Instead, I will have to dream of chateaux in Provence, gardens filled with Rose de Mai, and fabulous Vogue dinner parties.

Photo: Rebecca Marshall for The New York Times.