Checkmate

• Professional
• Daily
• Elegant outing

Checkmate is inspired by a game of chess in a family garden, seeking to capture a calm, refined, and slightly nostalgic atmosphere. From the opening, the fragrance offers a luminous and slightly spicy freshness. Citrus notes provide a lively and natural touch, while a hint of cardamom adds a subtle aromatic dimension, almost like a warm tea enjoyed in the shade. Then, the fragrance evolves into something more textured and elegant. A supple leather emerges, but far from being raw, it is polished, almost velvety, accompanied by a powdery sweetness brought by iris and heliotrope. This phase gives an impression of comfort and calm, like a thoughtful, composed moment where everything is in its place. Over time, Checkmate becomes warmer and more enveloping. Woods and suede take over, bringing a soft and sophisticated depth. The fragrance remains perfectly balanced between freshness and warmth, with an elegant, discreet yet highly refined signature, like a perfectly tailored suit.

P. Frapin & Cie is a family-owned French company established in the Charente region since 1270, with winemakers from father to son for twenty-one generations. Its 240-hectare estate stretches across the heart of Grande Champagne, Premier Cru du Cognac, where the limestone soils and micro-terroir give the eaux-de-vie their unique depth. Frapin applied this same demanding approach to land and time to perfume starting in 2004. The family's genealogical tree holds a surprise: François Rabelais, one of the great humanists of the French Renaissance, was Anne-Catherine Frapin's nephew. The quill on the house's logo is a tribute to him. Later, Louis XIV had a coat of arms presented to his apothecary, Pierre Frapin. This demonstrates that this house embodies something that goes beyond simple artisanal production. Its perfumes are stories. 1270 pays tribute to the family's establishment in Charente and to the Folle Blanche, a legendary grape variety now extinct, whose scents of grape, burnt vine shoots, and candied fruits resurrect its memory. 1270 Extrême pushes this logic further with notes of honey, pineapple, and tonka bean. L'Humaniste evokes the spirit of Rabelais, his curiosity and tolerance. Each bottle is a Charentais fresco, an era, a character, a noble material staged with the same patience that presides over the aging of cognacs in century-old cellars.