Perfumer Jacques Cavallier Belletrud’s guide to Grasse

When you go to the centre of the film world, you go to LA. For perfumes? You come to Grasse. People refer to Grasse as the “California of Europe”. It’s cool like California is cool.

Grasse is full of history. Because it’s part of the French Riviera, people think it’s all pétanque and pastis, but actually it’s very industrious: for 500 years, this small town has been the global centre for perfumery, where many of the traditional techniques for cultivating natural raw ingredients were born.

I was born here. My family has been involved in perfume-making in Grasse since the beginning. It’s in my DNA. My father was a perfumer too, and I vividly remember one time, when he was about 80, walking him back to his garden at 1am. We both stopped in our tracks. There was this incredible scent of tuberose coming from the town, and jasmine from somewhere up high. The meeting of the two was like a fully formed perfume. He said he’d been experiencing that for 65 years, but every time it felt like a miracle. That’s what it can be like, living in Grasse.

People here are very curious and welcoming

The perfume of mine that has most of Grasse in one bottle is Rose des Vents. It’s the fields of roses being carried along by the sea breeze. I’ve smelt that scent ever since I was born. For me, rose has a lot of strength, but also a lot of tenderness. It was the first perfume I created when I joined Louis Vuitton. We opened our fragrance atelier, Les Fontaines Parfumées, here in 2016. When I was a boy, I used to walk past the building on my way to school. It had been a perfumery but was totally derelict. When I was discussing a move to Louis Vuitton, [LVMH CEO] Monsieur Arnault sent me to see the building that would become the atelier, and it was that very place. It was a hugely emotional moment for me, standing there on the same footpath I used to walk along to school.

Grasse people are very curious and welcoming. We are open to the world. The nature of perfumery means people had to travel all over to find natural essences. Even now, you can go from Nice airport straight to New York, Dubai or London. Working for Louis Vuitton, I often go to Paris and absorb all the energy. Then I return to Grasse and distil it all.

My favourite view of Grasse is from Cabris, where I live (I moved back here from Paris with my family in 2014). It’s a hilltop village about 10 minutes away. The view is spectacular. You are just in front of Cannes and you have the Esterel mountains on the right – and it’s home.

The best time to visit Grasse is between May and September. In May you have the roses, but it’s also the Cannes film festival and the Monaco Grand Prix, so it’s busy. In June, you get the end of the rose harvest, but the weather is also fantastic. September is also special because you have the jasmine.

I’d recommend anyone coming over in the summer to visit the gardens at the International Perfume Museum. There’s lavender, jasmine, tuberose – so many beautiful flowers. The museum itself has a unique collection of precious bottles and alembics, and brings to life ancient techniques used to create scented oils and waters: decantation, maceration and filtration.

I also love the Fondation Maeght, a hilltop gallery and sculpture park about 30 minutes’ drive from Grasse in Saint-Paul-de-Vence. One of the other very special things in this area is the light – it’s why so many famous artists came here. Picasso lived in the village of Mougins just next to Grasse for 12 years.

Any summer stay should involve a bowl of the local vegetable soupe au pistou. Also a plate of beignets de fleurs de courgettes, which are deep-fried and delicious. Stop for a coffee at any of the cafés on La Place aux Aires, in Grasse. It’s all about simple pleasures here. Simple pleasures, and incredible perfumes.