Bulgarian rose oil is the most valuable rose oil on the market. Buyers are willing to pay $15,000 for a single kilogram. But to make the highest-quality Bulgarian rose oil, producers must spend the year cultivating fields that will only bloom for a few weeks. The petals are distilled the same hour they're harvested, costing producers $8,000 a kilo for labor alone.
Agro-Product Ltd.: https://rose-agroproduct.com/
Gloss Moderne: https://glossmoderne.com/
Agro-Product Ltd.: https://rose-agroproduct.com/
Gloss Moderne: https://glossmoderne.com/
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00:00 (blow dryer whirring)
00:02 It takes up to 5,000 kilograms of these flowers
00:05 to make just one kilo of Bulgarian rose oil.
00:08 It's worth it because luxury brands will pay top dollar
00:13 to put the oil in their perfumes.
00:15 A single kilogram of oil can sell for $15,000.
00:20 It has a little je ne sais quoi,
00:21 and it's so complex to describe this.
00:24 It is citrusy, it is fruity, it is green.
00:27 It's quite magical.
00:29 And though demand is high, there's still a problem.
00:32 Harvesters have only a few weeks all year
00:35 to gather about 450 tons of roses
00:38 to satisfy the luxury perfume industry's demand.
00:41 So why do brands like Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton
00:46 clamor for their share of Bulgarian rose oil?
00:48 And why is it so expensive?
00:51 The sun rises over this farm in Bulgaria's Rose Valley.
00:59 But in this serene landscape,
01:01 harvesters like Figan have been rushing since 5 a.m.
01:04 to collect as many roses as they can.
01:07 They only have a few weeks until the roses wilt
01:15 and become unusable,
01:17 and a limited supply means a higher price tag.
01:19 [Speaking Bulgarian]
01:21 The more flowers harvested in the morning hours,
01:32 the better, because that's when the petals
01:34 have the highest oil concentration.
01:36 Bulgarian roses, also known as Damasc roses,
01:41 have a particularly low oil content
01:43 compared to other rose varieties,
01:45 so it's vital to extract as much oil as possible.
01:49 Once there are enough bags of roses to fill a truckload,
01:52 they're delivered to the distillery.
01:54 To extract the highest concentration of rose oil,
01:58 the petals must be distilled immediately after harvesting.
02:02 [Speaking Bulgarian]
02:04 The longer produces wait,
02:18 the less potent and therefore less valuable
02:20 their oil becomes.
02:22 AgroProduct employs about 120 people
02:25 during the brief harvesting season
02:27 and says it spends an average of $8,000 per kilo of oil
02:32 on labor.
02:33 But that kilo can be sold for more than 1.5 times
02:37 that amount.
02:38 See, it's only very few here,
02:40 because as soon as they have a little truckload,
02:43 we have the truck just behind us there,
02:46 they are taken to the factory right away.
02:48 So this is very important, especially in Bulgaria.
02:51 They are very good at that.
02:52 That's Christophe Leudamiel.
02:54 He's a master perfumer who's created scents
02:56 for brands like Ralph Lauren and Tom Ford.
02:59 He's at the distillery today on a consulting visit.
03:03 They take those bags,
03:04 and we can see that little truck going to the factory,
03:06 and they're going to be extracted right away
03:08 because it does make a difference
03:09 if you wait one or two days, et cetera.
03:15 Once the roses arrive at the distillery,
03:18 workers must move quickly.
03:20 They weigh the petals and pour them
03:24 into the distillation vat.
03:25 Thousands of soft pink petals are mixed with water
03:33 and boiled down to this colorless sludge.
03:36 The pink oil is more expensive because we work harder.
03:43 We need more people to work in the field,
03:48 so that they can get more steam in less time,
03:54 so that it can get to the distillation vat faster,
03:57 so that we can boil it.
03:59 Every part of this process is controlled.
04:03 The steam is exactly 105 degrees Celsius
04:07 and the pressure at 5.5 bar gauge.
04:10 AgroProducts says these measurements
04:15 optimize the quality of its rose oil,
04:18 and the consistency makes its product more reliable.
04:21 The mixture flows through several distillation apparatuses
04:26 before the oil can finally be separated from the water.
04:30 For a single kilogram of rose oil,
04:32 producers need to harvest and process
04:34 as much as 5,000 kilograms of Bulgarian rose petals.
04:39 You see this bottle right here?
04:40 This is what you get if you harvest this
04:44 during the whole season from three rows.
04:47 You get just this bottle.
04:48 One kilo is this.
04:52 So four of those goes in here.
04:53 Bulgarian rose oil is sought after
04:57 by established luxury fragrance houses
04:59 such as Tom Ford and Louis Vuitton.
05:02 As well as newer shops like Gloss Moderne.
05:05 The rose is a rose is a rose,
05:08 unless of course it's a Bulgarian rose.
05:11 So we've smelled a lot of different roses
05:13 and I actually wasn't a fan
05:15 of too many different rose fragrances before.
05:18 I felt like they smelled like my grandmother.
05:20 And so when we smelled this,
05:23 it actually smelled like as if you had a bouquet of roses
05:27 and it smelled like a fresh, fresh rose.
05:31 So here we are.
05:33 So this is the production that just happened.
05:36 It's straight from the factory in this raw bottle.
05:39 This is so potent.
05:41 This is our final rose magical when it's really fresh.
05:44 So some of it is a bit offensive,
05:47 like stringent or almost aggressive because it's so fresh.
05:52 And then in the older one, the aged one,
05:56 it's like a nice wine.
05:59 - Tremendous, tremendous.
06:00 - Yeah.
06:01 - Boom.
06:02 Hopefully, because that's what we tell everybody.
06:05 - After the oil has been aged for at least three months,
06:08 it can finally be incorporated into perfumes.
06:11 Kuen says the unique scent profile of Bulgarian rose oil
06:17 makes it worthy of its high price point.
06:19 - We pay between 10 to $15,000
06:24 per kilo for Bulgarian rose oil.
06:29 And that's the pure Bulgarian rose oil, undiluted.
06:32 I feel it's definitely worth the price.
06:34 It's extremely unique.
06:38 - Studies have found more than 300 compounds
06:41 in Damasc rose oil,
06:42 making it more complex than other varieties.
06:45 The Damasc rose, or Rosa damascena,
06:48 originated in the Middle East,
06:50 where its oil has been extracted since the 7th century.
06:54 Around 400 years ago,
06:56 the farmers began cultivating these roses
06:58 in what's now known as Bulgaria's Rose Valley.
07:02 - And this is one particular thing about this valley
07:06 is that it's cold and wet.
07:09 If you look at other rose regions in the world,
07:12 some are cold but dry,
07:14 some are not as high as here.
07:17 So this is very particular of this terroir here in Bulgaria
07:20 and gives this richness of the oil.
07:23 - The cooler spring temperatures
07:26 prevent the rose petals
07:27 from forming a protective wax,
07:29 and the humidity allows higher oil saturation in the rose.
07:33 This year, the season was delayed a couple of weeks
07:37 because of unexpected rainfall
07:39 and colder-than-usual temperatures.
07:41 Ironically, humidity and cool temperatures
07:44 are two of the factors that make Bulgarian roses
07:47 stand out from others.
07:49 Then there's the soil.
07:51 - The soil here is a bit rocky.
07:55 That's why it gives the rose a more specific aroma.
08:00 That's why it's called the pure gold of Bulgaria.
08:06 - Plus, the Damascene rose has all these spicy and fruity notes.
08:11 So they are very well preserved around here.
08:13 And this is one reason why we like this Bulgarian rose.
08:17 - There is no sign of Bulgarian rose oil's global demand
08:20 slowing down.
08:21 The rose oil market is estimated to expand
08:24 at a compound annual growth rate of 6.8%
08:28 between 2019 and 2025.
08:32 Organic rose oil, like that produced by AgroProduct,
08:35 is the fastest-growing segment.
08:38 - The trend is to produce organic products.
08:44 There is no chemicals, no pesticides, and so on.
08:49 We have created a large distillery
08:51 that currently produces 100% organic oils and water.
08:59 - But the scent is what will keep perfumers like Christophe
09:02 coming back for more.
09:05 - I don't know, I said already, it's one of those notes
09:07 you put it in almost anything, it makes it nicer.
09:10 We had a joke with some other perfumers.
09:13 We know we have one or two rose qualities.
09:16 We know, well, just put that, just put a little bit,
09:18 just a little bit, and clack, it gives either sparkle or body
09:28 to a fragrance.
09:29 So it's really nice.
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