Quick answers
History
Founded in Thailand in 2018, Bortnikoff works like a studio rather than a label. Dmitry Bortnikoff came from architecture and co-founded the distillation company Feel-Oud in 2013, focused on agarwood and sandalwood. That distiller's practice carried straight into his own formulas, stated at 95 to 100 percent naturals depending on the composition and issued in very small runs.
Sambac Rouge went online on 15 July 2026 in the official Summer 2026 Release category. The site timestamp places its publication three seconds before Cuir de Cerise. The two are an intentional pair, and both begin on cherry. The other one drives that cherry into leather and oud; this one gives it to a white flower.
The gap is what the release adds to the catalog. The house made its name on oud, from Mysterious Oud in 2018 to Oud Hindi in 2024, alongside a second collection working vetiver, musk and chypre. A fruity white floral with no agarwood in the published formula fills a slot nothing had filled before.
Olfactory pyramid
The official product page lists a three-tier pyramid, short and without sourcing detail. These are the seven named materials.
Raspberry sits in the base rather than the top, which states the intent plainly: the fruit is meant to last under the flower, not to arrive ahead of it.
Olfactory profile
Two spicy materials frame the cherry from the first minute. Pink pepper restores its berry character instead of its jam character; ginger adds a dry heat that stops the opening from sliding into syrup. The fruit stays red and acidic, which leaves room for what follows.
The subject is jasmine sambac. Jasminum sambac lacks the fat amplitude of grandiflorum: it runs greener and more solar, with an almost tea-like facet familiar to Southeast Asian perfumery. The amber listed beside it does not behave as a note but as a footing, giving the flower a warm surface to sit on.
The base gathers three materials pulling the same way. Musk stretches the wear and keeps the composition near skin, raspberry returns the opening red at the far end, and sandalwood, a material his own distillery Feel-Oud has handled since 2013, adds a soft milkiness that rounds the jasmine. The structure is circular: it closes on the fruit it started with.
Key characteristics
Sillage, longevity and projection
When and where to wear
Sambac Rouge is the more wearable of the two extracts the house issued this summer. The white flower and the red fruit make it legible at once, and the musky base makes it workable in daylight, which the concentration alone would not have predicted.
Wear references
Seasonal fit
| Season | Fit | Critical notes |
|---|---|---|
| Spring | ★★★★ | Jasmine and red fruit are at home here. |
| Summer | ★★★★ | Sambac takes the heat, musk holds on. |
| Fall | ★★★☆ | Raspberry and sandalwood warm it well. |
| Winter | ★★☆☆ | The base lacks density against the cold. |
Context fit
| Context | Fit | Wear recommendation |
|---|---|---|
| Evening | ★★★★ | The white flower opens without straining. |
| Going out | ★★★★ | Legible and recognizable at a distance. |
| Everyday | ★★★☆ | Workable at a low dose. |
| Office | ★★☆☆ | Jasmine stays assertive in closed rooms. |
Similar perfumes
Crossing a white flower with a red fruit sets Sambac Rouge near niche jasmines and near cherries handled elsewhere.
| Perfume | House · year | Why it is close |
|---|---|---|
| Lost Cherry | Tom Ford · 2018 | The other recognizable niche cherry, pulled toward dessert where Bortnikoff keeps it floral. |
| Jasmagonda 23.1 | Pierre Guillaume Paris · 2018 | A woody jasmine of neighboring build, without the red fruit relay in the base. |
| Fleur Narcotique | Ex Nihilo · 2014 | The same white floral and fruit crossing, written in a lighter hand. |