Story
Baraonda was released in 2017 by Nasomatto, the Italian independent perfume house founded in 2007 by Italian perfumer Alessandro Gualtieri, based in Amsterdam (Netherlands), where he runs his lab and company office. The Italian word baraonda translates as a joyful uproar, the kind of unruly evening that spills past closing time. Gualtieri uses it as the title of a composition built around drinking, traveling, and writing.
The narrative spine is literary and precise. Baraonda draws on Moscow-Petushki, the cult 1973 novel by Russian author Venedikt Yerofeyev, which follows a drunk narrator riding the suburban train from Moscow toward the station of Petushki and stopping at every drink along the way. Nasomatto frames the perfume as the olfactory echo of that journey, condensed into a thirty-milliliter extrait.
The house press kit describes the composition as "a delicate and costly creation that blends the taste and the smell of a single malt whiskey, lucid dreaming, and reality, burning Russian Red, personal actions, and reactions." The brief reads as a short story rather than a marketing pitch, in keeping with Gualtieri's habit of writing his perfumes in a narrative register. Wearers consistently report a tobacco-and-spirit signature stretched across the wear, from a smoky cask opening to a warm leather-amber drydown.
Baraonda arrived eight years after Black Afgano and belongs to the second wave of the Nasomatto catalog, alongside Nudiflorum (2016) and Fantomas (2018). The perfume stays in production in 2026 as a 30 ml extrait de parfum, distributed through selective niche retailers including Luckyscent, NOSE, Jovoy and the official Nasomatto website.
The olfactive experience
Nasomatto refuses to release official notes for any of its compositions. Alessandro Gualtieri treats raw materials as a kept secret, convinced that naming them would constrain and mislead the act of smelling. Baraonda follows the same rule: you wear it without a tasting note, the way you would drink a single malt before reading the distillery sheet.
Released in 2017, the perfume was conceived as a spirit captured inside a bottle. The press kit states the intent plainly: "Baraonda is a spirit in a perfume bottle, capturing the essence of this journey through Moscow stations."
Wearers consistently report a peated whiskey lift at first spray, paired with blond tobacco and the warm signal of an oak cask. The heart shifts to balsamic accents of honey and dark vanilla, rounded but never gourmand, before settling into a tenacious base of soft leather, amber and a deep patchouli that extends the journey through the long evening.
The bottle carries the spirit idea into its packaging. The cap is carved from a mix of corks from Portugal and Italy, a direct quotation of the cork stoppers used on whisky bottles.
Olfactive profile
The olfactive profile of Baraonda reads as a tasting flight. The opening lands as a spirited accord, where blond tobacco meets cask wood and an oily ambered alcohol note. The heart unfolds with honey, dark vanilla and balsamic warmth, plush without sliding into the gourmand register. The drydown settles on soft leather, round amber and a dense patchouli, anchoring the wear without flattening its narrative arc.
The distinctive signature rests on the refusal of the whisky-candle shortcut. Where many tobacco compositions lean on a generic rum-vanilla accord, Alessandro Gualtieri stretches the spirit motif across the whole wear, from the opening tobacco to the closing leather, and ties it to a precise literary scene. The result reads as a short story rather than a conventional release, in the editorial lineage of the other narrative compositions from the house.
Baraonda is a spirit in a perfume bottle.Nasomatto press kit
Key characteristics
Family
Woody tobacco whisky, conceptual niche tradition
Typical longevity
Eight to twelve hours on skin, persistent on fabric
Sillage
Moderate, warm and woody at close range, with a leather-amber trail that holds through the drydown
When and where to wear
Baraonda wears as an after-dark autumn-and-winter perfume. Its tobacco-whisky signature unfolds fully in cool dry air and dim rooms, and loses legibility in heat or bright daylight.
Four wearing benchmarks
Temperature range
Best between 2 °C and 16 °C (36 °F to 61 °F).
Time of day
At its best in evening and late-night wear, not a daytime fragrance.
Settings
Whisky bar, fireside dinner, members' lounge: excellent.
Dosage by context
One to two doses suffice; the extrait carries a strong sillage.
Fit by season
| Season | Fit | Critical notes |
|---|
| Spring | ★★ | Reads heavy past the mid-teens Celsius. |
| Summer | ★ | Unsuited to warm weather, the tobacco core turns leaden. |
| Autumn | ★★★★ | Reference season, the tobacco-whisky accord finds its volume. |
| Winter | ★★★★ | Excellent in cold dry air, the leather-amber trail anchors the wear. |
Fit by setting
| Setting | Fit | Wearing recommendation |
|---|
| Office | ★ | Mismatched register in shared professional environments. |
| Winter dinner | ★★★★ | Natural setting, the woody-spirited accord dialogues with the table. |
| Whisky bar | ★★★★ | Reference setting for the composition. |
| Formal evening | ★★★ | Workable in dim lit, intimate venues. |
| Sport | ★ | Unsuited. |
| Travel | ★★ | Difficult on long flights or dense public transport. |
Similar perfumes
Five compositions share a kinship with Baraonda through the tobacco-whisky accord, the warm leather drydown, or the narrative editorial register.
| Perfume | House · year | Why related |
|---|
| Black Afgano | Nasomatto · 2009 | Same house, same narrative editorial register, dense smoky woody architecture. |
| Pardon | Nasomatto · 2010 | Earlier Gualtieri composition with a tobacco-wood accord; same storytelling logic. |
| Tobacco Vanille | Tom Ford · 2007 | Reference blond tobacco and vanilla, comparable warmth at the heart of the wear. |
| Back to Black | By Kilian · 2009 | Honeyed tobacco signed by Calice Becker; the same spirited tessitura. |
| Tobacco Oud | Tom Ford · 2013 | Black tobacco and resinous woods; comparable drydown density. |
Frequently asked questions
Who composed Baraonda?01
Alessandro Gualtieri, the Italian perfumer who founded
Nasomatto in Amsterdam (Netherlands) in 2007, composed Baraonda in 2017 for his own independent house.
Where does the name Baraonda come from?02
The Italian word baraonda means uproar or joyful chaos, the unruly end of an evening. Nasomatto borrows the term to evoke creative drunkenness and a night that runs into dawn.
What inspired Baraonda?03
The cult Russian novel Moscow-Petushki by Venedikt Yerofeyev (1973). The book follows a drunk narrator on a suburban train between Moscow and Petushki, stopping at every station for another drink. The perfume condenses that journey into a tobacco-whisky composition.
What is the olfactive family of Baraonda?04
Woody tobacco whisky. Nasomatto does not release official notes. The composition reads with a spirited tobacco opening, a honeyed dark-vanilla heart, and a leather-amber-patchouli base.
How long does Baraonda last?05
Eight to twelve hours on skin, with a leather-amber drydown that lingers on fabric.
What is the bottle cap of Baraonda made of?06
The cap is carved from a mix of corks from Portugal and Italy, a direct nod to the cork stoppers used on whisky bottles.
Is Baraonda for men or women?07
Nasomatto markets the composition as an extrait de parfum for men and women.
When should you wear Baraonda?08
Best in evening and late-night wear, particularly suited to autumn and winter, between 2 °C and 16 °C. Dimly lit settings (dinner table, whisky bar, fireside) suit it better than daytime shared environments.
Does Baraonda actually contain whisky?09
No. The single malt reference is a narrative inspiration. Nasomatto does not communicate any official list of materials and does not use ambered alcohol as a perfume ingredient.
Sources
Published June 11, 2026 · Updated June 11, 2026 · Last fact-check: June 11, 2026 · Author: Osmetheca Editorial Team
