Gattopardo
Antonio Alessandria (2017)

I've long been eyeing the Antonio Alessandria line for entirely dubious reasons – the 1920's-30s style of the bottles have been proving to be a strange attractor, considering I'm usually immune to the charms of packaging.
Reading reports that this isn't just another style-over-substance niche brand but offers perfumes with distinctive personalities tipped me over into trying out some. Gattopardo (Leopard) comes with Visconti-esque associations of decadent stylish excess. Allesandria's perfume translation, however, does not bring swanning about in a grand palazzo to mind; it lacks the lavish finish.
Here is a full-volley peaty whisky paired with a rather thin fig, that imbalance makes the latter seem strangely medicinal, with a touch of petrol fumes as well. Underlying this accord is a beeswax and patchouli-cocoa base, thick, gourmand, but not dogged as these things tend to be. While admiring that many of the notes are quite realistic yet not heavy-handed, they fail to convince me that they belong together. Still, lovers of ultra-boozy perfumes, should give this a twirl as the drydown seems to be bottomless Laphroaig.
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