The Zadok Allen Vineyard

[cyberpuff]

THE ZADOK ALLEN VINYARD
Innsmouth, MA
Ut Sementem Feceris Ita Metes. Founded by the Esoteric Order of Dagon, and named after the man encased within the foundation of the winery, this fertile bastion of haphazard viticulture has been providing superb wines to the Miskatonic Valley since 1927. The site of the vineyard has been used for hundreds of years as an abattoir, and this environment lends a peculiar and exceptional terroir to all their wines and liquors. Visitors are welcome to observe Fishmen priests engaged in pigeage once a month. Please contact the vineyard for information on this as well as their scheduled wine tasting events.

A deep velvety Cabernet Sauvignon with hints of plum, black cherry, rose petals, coffee bean, and smoky oak. Barrel and bottle aged, with a smooth and spicy hit mid-palate. Hints of Dagon's tarry black incense and clotted blood complete this well-rounded, robust indulgence.

 

I've never been first at a review...

The Zadok Allen Vineyard was a Luper I new I had to purchase unsniffed because it has three of my favorite things in it- red wine, coffee and black cherries. I had no idea how they would work together as a scent though.

In the bottle: Right away, wow, that's wine! Then I get hit with another smell- blood.

Wet on skin: Oh, this reminds me a lot of Blood Kiss. I adore Blood Kiss. While it dries I check to see the notes in both, and they share cherries, blood and wine.

Drydown: The smoky oak has come out and sat right down next to the cherries. I'm not getting any coffee at all. I think my skin eats coffee anyway. This is a really nice stage of sweet, fruity smokiness.

Couple hours later: This has an average throw and right now it's starting to fade. The sweetness stayed, there's a hint of smokiness. The rose finally came out but it behaved well- just light around the edges. I don't really get a true wine smell anymore, but it's like I went to the Gallery Walk night and was around red wine all night and may or may not have spilled/drooled red wine and had to buy a new shirt.

Overall: Yes. This is a pretty scent, dark without the cloying. I like that it goes on drunk (fun!) and then sobers up as nice company as an adult scent with depth. I know that the bottles sometimes take a few days after shipping to "calm down," if I notice any change I'll come back and edit. Buy this if you are a Blood Kiss fan, a red wine fan or you love the complex/smoky woods.

[cfrancesca]

This is the only bpal wine scent that has worked on me, thus far. I find the bpal wine note to be a tad to too realistic for me, compared to other wine scents I've tried from other companies that I find to be more wearable.

 

I've changed my mind...

This is smokey, robust and oh so sexy. I want to bathe in it, it's pure luxury and oddly comforting too.

I get the slightest cherry, plum and rose undertones in the background, and I'm getting tiny smidge of coffee and blood those two are hardly noticeable on my skin (I personally prefer it that way). It's gorgeously blended so I don't get any single note that stands out, all the notes just make it a very complex and rich scent.

 

I love it and it's met all my expectations.

[angelicruin]

Sharp blood and wine on my skin with a smoky undertone. No cherry for me and the rose and plum notes are barely there.

Edited February 14, 2010 by angelicruin

[Ishianti]

Wet: The sharpness of wine really jumped out at me with that robust oak and smokiness dominating.

 

Dry: A certain sweetness rises, just a hint of the cherry and plum, but the smokey oak lasts while the wine dampened down. There is that darkness to it that gives it richness without being too fruity.

 

A few hours later, it's still the same, faded quite a bit though but now the rose petals are detectable.

 

 

 

I like it for the long run, if I'm feeling dark and moody. Not an overpowering scent, but there's a rich complexity that I like.

[kerikeri]

Starts out as a dark, thick, rich red wine scent, very reminiscent of the GC scent Centzon Totochtin, but with additional smoky wood notes. It's very heady and a bit overwhelming. Then it almost completely morphs-- the cherry and plum notes rise to the top, adding a brighter, sweeter, almost sparkling quality to the scent, though it's still grounded by the darker wine and wood underneath.

 

This one surprised me with its metamorphosis-- I was just thinking it was nice, but a bit too similar to all the other dark, vampy wine scents I've tried, and then it totally changed into something unique. I liked Centzon Totochtin when I tried it, but the occasion never seemed quite right to wear such a heavy, decadent scent; Zadok Allen Vineyard seems to be its lighter, dressed-down cousin, and I can see myself wearing it in everyday situations a lot more easily.

[AmandaArcana]

I did not try this on myself since wine scents do not work on me at all. I did buy this for my husband and he LOVES it. I do not get any of the other notes except deep, dark, red wine. It smells like someone totally dumped a bottle of it over his head. It is very strong and lasts all day on him. I need to be careful 'cause he put it on and then huged me and it got on me and that's all I could smell! Its a very potent blend...do not get pulled over by the cops when you are wearing it!

[lizzyshoe]

In the imp: red wine, warm, straight from the bottle, with hints of chocolate, coffee, and cherry. I don't smell the plum, but I do pick up some of the blood. Pretty much exactly what I expected from the scent description.

 

Wet: Woah! The balance has completely changed! It's much more cherry-chocolate than red wine. Reminds me of those cherry cordial candies. I can also smell some of the alcohol in the wine.

 

Drydown: The wine is coming back to the front, still backed by sweeter cherry scents.

 

Dry: The wine is totally in the forefront again, sweeter than it started, with hints of chocolate.

 

Overall: I'm not a big fan of wine scents, but if you are, you should enjoy this lovely red Cab! My skin amps sweetness so YMMV, but the sharp red wine Cabernet notes really didn't stick around (only the sweeter ones). You might even want to try a scent locket for this. The throw is about average.

 

[Saya]

I didn't even want to put this on my skin since it smelled so terrible in the imp. Wine scents and I typically don't get along but I wanted to try this one anyway.

 

Starts of as a sharp wine note but begins to fade after a few minutes. I'm getting quite a bit of fruit out of this and for some reason my nose keeps thinking Hollywood Babylon. The smoke note is detectable, but only if you're looking for it. At any rate, for a wine scent it's not too bad, but not something I'd wear. Off to swaps.

[PeshaRocha]

This starts out as very smoky, strong oak on me with just a hint of alcohol and fruit. But after drydown, the smoky oak fades out, leaving just enough of itself to keep the scent from being too sweet. It turns into a nicely balanced fruity, lightly alcohol-ish, slightly floral scent with a gentle dark base of smoked oak. Nicely rounded and sophisticated, a bit sweet, a bit dark, a bit sharp. Lovely and warm, rather sexy and a definite keeper.

[marared]

Holy wine, Batman. Big red fruity boozy blast right out of the imp and on my skin. After a few minutes, the fruit and booze recede a bit, and the oak comes forward. No smoke or blood that I can pick out. I'm impressed at how well this represents barrel aged wine. I don't think I need a bottle, as I've already got Glühwein (a definite cousin), but if you like that or Blood Kiss, check this one out.

[dawndie]

In bottle: red vinegar

 

On skin: delicious red wine with an oaken waft

 

Half-hour later: the red wine is struggling to appear amidst wood and some coffee grounds

 

In conclusion: this is like a Fortunato and Chapel combo -- the beginning is Fortunato, intriguing red wine, but the end is definitely the Chapel, the red wine is in the background of something dark 'n' gloomy. Long lasting too, another interesting blend.

[Venneh]

Pretty straight up wine in the decant, can't wait to see how this turns out. On my skin, it's pretty straight up wine with chocolate and cherry and coffee undernotes and plum. Oooh, I'm liking this. This passes the round one test, and with Milk Chocolate, Cardamom, Rum, Ginger, and Coconut on the other wrist, it's amazing. Update with full skin test later.

 

It's just as beautiful standing on it's own, though I may end up pairing this with MCCRGC at times. Definitely getting a bottle.

Edited February 24, 2010 by Venneh

[Poenari]

First of all, I love to drink Cabernet, so I had to try a decant of this. It's a gorgeous dark fruity wine scent, and I agree with another reviewer who mentioned a similarity to the fruit in Centzon Totochtin. It ends with an almost incense note on the drydown. Gorgeous!

Recommended for those who love strong grapey wine scents: Centzon Totochtin, Prospero, Urd

[coldandsleepy]

So, Zadok Allen is sort of like The Blood Garden: The Revenge! for me. It has a lot of aspects that I remember liking about that-- the wine grapes don't get out of control (grape is often a problem note for me), the blood note isn't too "aaah! blood!", the overall scent is rich and smooth.

 

I'm a dabber by nature but I didn't even do a full dab with this... half a dab, maybe. It's still QUITE strong on me.

 

In the first 90 seconds or so after I applied it, I was like "oh noes! get it off me!" because all I got was sickly sweet grape. That burnt off really really fast though, for which I am quite grateful.

 

It's hard to say what exactly I'm getting here, because the scent is so beautifully blended to my nose. There's definitely wine, a tart note that reminds me of cranberries (maybe the blood accord?), mild cherry, and incense. It still has a sweetness to it, but it's not the primary characteristic of the scent.

 

Overall, I'm a big fan, and I'll be hanging on to my bottle.

[MamaMoth]

Goes on VERY winey with a superfruity sweetness, backed by dark smokiness, and almost a tinge of rot or decay. Very aggressive.

 

It starts morphing almost immediately after touching my skin, The fruit wine backing off and a heavy smoky rose-ish incense gaining strength.

 

Dried, this is really hard to describe. Very well blended. Smoky and red-fruity and a little sweet. The fermented winey vibe is gone. I can maybe pick out a little bit of cherry, but the fruitiness is mostly indistinct red sweetness. There's a little aura of dark woodsiness about it. I think I can detect a little bit of rose, but it's very well meshed and non-offensive to my floral-hating nose. This blend ends up surprisingly soft and gentle, considering how it came out of the gate swinging.

 

I think I might come to love this. Very compelling.

[starfish327]

this is definitely an in your face wine scent- in fact it was too much red wine for me to be willing to skin test because i am wine to 11 and didn't want to spend the day worried that i smelled a little too much like alcohol.

 

it's one of the darkest feeling blends that i've come across and i'm hoping to get a decant in a couple of months. i'm hoping that the wine cuts back a little and lets some of the darkness that i'm feeling underneath it comes to the surface, because i'm fairly certain that with some age i'm going to love it.

[Little Bird]

This is so unlike any of the other boozy/wine scents I've tried. It's not as sweet as blends like Gluhwein or Soothing System. I get a lot of cherry from this. I normally don't like cherry scents, because they're sickly sweet, they smell like kool-aid powder, or they smell like cough syrup. The cherry here is a dry, dark, sophisticated, grownup cherry that I just love, though.

 

In the bottle, this is scary-alcoholic and smells just like opening up a bottle of dark wine. On my skin, thankfully, the alcoholic/chemical note disappears and I'm left with that rich, dark cherry and some darker, slightly smoky notes. I thought that it smelled a bit like a hint of smooth, smoky leather, but my husband says that this smells incensey to him, so I'm probably smelling the "black incense" and thinking leather. There's something about this that smells like cool, wet air to me as well, and reminds me of being inside of damp caverns.

 

The Zadok Allen Vineyard actually reminds me a bit of bptp's Dungeon spray more than anything else. I wear Dungeon by spritzing it on my jackets & shoes, but ZAV is an even darker, more complex, wearable, dark wine. I don't own any other wine scents quite like this one (or as good as this one). This is an awesome, rich scent, and I think it would smell great on a man or a woman. I need at least one backup bottle before this gets discontinued.

 

[cinnamonster]

I'm afraid this review is a bit weak as I couldn't even get this on-skin.

 

In vial: EWWWWW, VETIVER, not in a hint of vetiver kind of way but a big gnarly blackened nasty smoky fire-damage kind of way, with wine.

 

Sorry.

[voodoocatwoman]

If I can get past the first impression of this, it might turn out to be something wonderful.

 

It starts out as vinegar. I'm thinking it should go on a salad, not my wrist. Then... just as I start for the sink and the soap, cherry comes out. Cherry wine, deep red, almost black. There is the tiniest bit of smoke in the background. This is a very strange but intriguing scent.

 

I like it but that first blast of vinegar is like WHOA.

[voorishsign]

This is the first proper wine oil I've ever tried, but I thought this might be the time what with this being a Lovecraft-inspired oil and I'm a fan. I don't drink wine personally and wouldn't have gone for a straight wine oil, but all the other notes sounded really interesting.

 

In the imp - wine. And how! Smells just like a whiff of a strong, juicy red wine.

 

On wet - poof goes the wine. It's gone. Not a trace left. Just a slight cherry note. Funny.

 

Drydown - gorgeously blended. Coffee, a hint of blood, incense, and plum. I didn't think the scent would actually take me through all the notes listed but they're all distinct and beautiful.

[theseagrows]

ooh very interesting. when i sniff the decant it smells like straight up alcohol. now that it's on my skin, it's mostly cabernet, coffee and oak. very interesting, but not sure i'd wear this too much. it's so interesting though that i can't stop smelling my wrist. it's like a warm, velvety, slightly earthy wine scent.

 

 

 

[gypsyjolie]

first sniff - OUCH. sharp sour wine and smoke. Eye-watering.

 

wet, on - smoke still acrid and sharp, wine blossoms and gets warmed and deeper, blood scent appears

 

drying - the smoke chills the heck out finally. the wine is really getting yummy - I'm getting a hint of rose to sweeten things up now.

 

dry - rich velvety dark red fruity wine, rich red rose, coffee, some rich fruit (cherry? plum? grape?). The harsh smoke became an incense smoke backnote and is really lovely now. This is sexy and gorgeous and rich. Very well blended. Not too much rose to put me off it, either.

 

 

This is almost painful for the first five minutes but is really wonderful after 15. Seems to last quite a while.

I may have to get more of this despite the opening horror. I think this will age very very beautifully!

 

ETA: The drydown of this and Possets: Madeira is eerily similar. I'm testing them side by side right now. Both in full drydown - Zadok is a bit darker and heavier on the rose, and Madeira stays slightly fruitier, but huh, I guess I don't need a bottle since I have one of Madeira already.

Edited March 3, 2010 by gypsyjolie

[blu°]

I really like this one. It's a promising candidate for my perfect dark-red scent.

 

Thanks to the non-tart cherry and plum and the lovely coffee note this is not sour or grape-y in the least. It's very smooth with the coffee and oak base. Of all the wine blends it reminds me most of The Feast For The Greatly Revered Ones, as that one wasn't sour on me, neither.

 

This is much nicer, though, since I prefer the coffee and oak to Feast's corn and cocoa.

 

It's dark-purple/red, very smooth, slightly bitter but with background sweetness, great throw. Reminds me a bit of The Red Queen, too, in structure and color-play, but is much stronger, deeper and darker.

 

I can't stop huffing my wrists.

[patina]

Wow, this is sophisticated. It smells really dry and bitter, then turns sweet (the cherries), then the dark inscence heats up. As someone else said, this is a really lovely red-purple scent. The closest I can compare it to is the Purple Phoenix, which is also reiseny, but is more a fruit than a wine scent and also is, well, purple.

 

Midnight Kiss is sweeter, however Zadok Allen doesn't smell at all like peanut butter and jelly on me.

[saralaughs]

I think I just died.

 

As I've been going through this years Lupers, I found myself dissapointed that a lot that I thought would be super great on me were super awful. Then I started testing the ones I got just because they sounded interesting and were "possibles".

 

Yeah. Possibles my ass.

 

First applied, it is WINE (capital letters must be used to describe the scent). It immediately calms though and isn't so in your face with the WINE. It has become wine with cherry and plum. A very deep plum/cherry scent with a bit of incense and wood. I wish I got more coffee but this is nice and rich.

 

Ok, ok...possible bottle.