The Merchant of Venice — Rosa Turchia
Essence
Rosa Turchia (2023) is a soliflore - a single-material study - built around Turkish Rosa Damascena absolute, part of The Merchant of Venice’s “Accordi di Profumo” collection of nature-conscious, sustainably-sourced single-ingredient eaux de parfum made with Givaudan. Composed by Carine Boin, it is exactly what its name promises and nothing more: a rich, true-to-life Turkish rose, designed to be worn solo or layered with other Accordi scents to build a custom perfume. Its identity is its honesty - and, somewhat unusually for a niche release, its bargain-to-quality ratio.
Scent Profile
This is a near-photorealistic rose. The dominant - essentially sole - impression is Turkish Rosa Damascena: rich and deep with a touch of green, balanced between spice and a honeyed sweetness, “very true to the actual flower.” There is no conventional pyramid to speak of; reviewers repeatedly note the absence of perceptible top or base notes - “no other notes present that I can smell, and certainly no base notes either - just pure Turkish rose.” The single listed note is rose; the supporting accords are simply floral, fresh and sweet. It is multidimensional in the way a real rose is - heady, full-bodied, with green and honey nuances, “not too sweet, not too spicy, and very, very rosy” - rather than through compositional movement. Linearity is total and intentional: what you smell at first spray is what you smell hours later. The signature accord is, plainly, Turkish rose absolute.
Performance
wearer reports on this specific scent are sparse but positive on performance - a notable contrast with The Merchant of Venice’s general reputation for spotty longevity. One reviewer who approached it warily because of the brand’s “mixed reviews, especially regarding performance” reported it “performed wonderfully all day.” A reviewer praised “gorgeous sillage with only a few sprays.” So the picture, from a small sample, is good longevity and respectable sillage from minimal application. Given the limited number of reviews, treat this as encouraging rather than definitively established. Apply sparingly given the potency of the rose absolute.
Wearing Context
A versatile rose suited to those who simply want to smell like a rose garden. Its freshness and lack of heavy base make it spring/summer-friendly, while the honeyed depth carries into cooler weather; it works day or evening. It is explicitly unisex. Beyond solo wear, its intended context is layering - the brand and wearers both pitch it as a building block to add a rich rose facet to chypres, orientals, fruity scents and gourmands, or to combine with other Accordi materials. Social perception is straightforward: natural, elegant, unmistakably rose, the kind that prompts “you smell like a rose garden” remarks.
Comparisons & DNA
The most useful comparison is to raw material rather than other perfumes: multiple reviewers say it smells indistinguishable from the pure Turkish Rose absolute sold (at far higher prices) in health-food/aromatherapy shops - “it smells exactly like the expensive Turkish rose absolute… diluted into perfume form.” Within The Merchant of Venice’s own listed data it sits beside the house’s celebrated Rosa Moceniga (2016) and the 2025 Rosa Moceniga Elixir, but those are composed, multifaceted rose perfumes (with citrus, lotus, amber, vanilla) whereas Rosa Turchia is a deliberately stripped-down soliflore. Against the broader rose-soliflore genre - think Perris Monte Carlo Rose de Taif or the classic rose absolutes - its distinction is the single-origin Turkish sourcing and the unusually low price. The recurring (slightly bemused) wearers observation is that the perfumer’s hand is nearly invisible: “I fail to understand why a perfumer was even needed if that is all this is.”
Reception
Among the few who have reviewed it, sentiment is warm: rose lovers are pleasantly surprised by the realism, the all-day performance, and especially the value - “a top-quality product at a bargain price,” “much more affordable than a pure absolute.” The main “criticism” is really conceptual: the scent is so purely a single rose absolute that some question whether it constitutes a perfume at all. There is no meaningful polarization in the limited data, beyond the general caveat that the broader brand has a reputation for inconsistent performance. Blind buy? For confirmed rose lovers and layering enthusiasts, yes - it’s inexpensive, true-to-life and well-reviewed by the rose crowd; anyone wanting evolution, complexity or a “designed” rose composition should look to Rosa Moceniga or elsewhere instead.
Versions & Reformulation
Single composition, no known reformulations.
Acquisition Notes
The Accordi di Profumo line is sold via The Merchant of Venice and authorized retailers, and the rose scent in particular has appeared on eBay and grey-market sites at low prices (reviewers note buying warily because of how inexpensive it was). It is marketed by Mavive (the Vidal family’s company). Because Accordi di Profumo is positioned as an entry/educational line rather than the house’s Murano-glass luxury tier, pricing is well below the brand’s flagship bottles. Counterfeiting does not appear to be a documented concern at this price and profile. Authentic channels: the brand’s own retail, Esxence/niche stockists, and reputable European e-tailers.
Notable Facts & Lore
- Rosa Turchia is part of the Accordi di Profumo collection launched by The Merchant of Venice with Givaudan, built on Givaudan’s Sourcing4Good program - each fragrance foregrounds a single sustainably and traceably sourced raw material, with the line designed to be educational (teaching wearers individual perfumery “accords”) and layerable.
- The rose itself is sourced from terraced fields between lakes Burdur and Egirdir in Turkey’s Isparta region, hand-picked in the morning from May to June and processed via solvent extraction into Rosa Damascena absolute.
- Perfumer Carine Boin framed her intent directly: “When I created this fragrance, I wanted to capture the essence of a freshly picked rose from a blooming garden in May, delicate and innocent, yet opulent and bewitching.
- “ The 2023 launch (presented at Esxence) expanded the original 2022 Accordi collection.