Why Louis Vuitton and Tom Ford spend up to $15,000 for one kilo of Bulgarian rose oil

Business Insider

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/

Transcript

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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