Vintner's Reserve: Banana Pudding, Apple Pie Moonshine and Peach Cobbler Review

Vintner's Reserve is a house that specializes in creating handcrafted wine and alcohol themed scents, made by a vintner (a winemaker) and his wife. They're located in Lexington, Kentucky and sell an assortment of items such as perfume oils, hand and body lotions, sugar scrubs and also hand sanitizer. 

I personally have actually had these scents for quite a while now, as I had ordered these scents around a year ago, so not only have they rested, they've definitely aged. Previously, the house had used the old 1mL vials with bottle necks, which make them incredibly difficult to open. Since then, they've changed their 1mL sample vials to the 1mL screw tops, which makes it easier to open. I've tried these scents a few times and made notes each time, as the effort it takes to open these vials is, admittedly, taxing. 

These 1mL samples all retail at $3.50 USD for one, but you can also buy the as part of collections, which is usually a little cheaper. This collection was part of their Old Kentucky Home collection, which was created to evoke the wonderful, comforting scents of Southern living. The fragrances are all body safe, and the base oil used in these blends is jojoba oil. While the projection in these scents is relatively low, the longevity for these scents sits at an impressive 6-7 hours, fading gracefully over the course of the wear. 

Banana Pudding - Our take on fresh banana pudding, with notes of banana, vanilla wafers, and (our secret ingredient) whipped cream!

This scent opens with a burst of banana and something a little salty and savoury, like bread and toast. On dry down, it's pretty much the listed notes, vanilla wafer, whipped cream and banana. Aging has definitely brightened up this scent, while I used to get quite more of a plasticy edge to this scent, it's now a mellow whipped cream sweetness. The banana note is a top note, and it quite fleeting, but the vanilla and whipped cream fade to a soft sweetness on the skin. 

This reminds me a more banana centric take on Blackburn's Parlor (Solstice Scents), which is definitely one of the best, realistic foodie scents that I've tried. It definitely smells very similar to that lovely, sliced banana, and I'm a huge banana fan so this is a favorite out of the collection for me. I enjoy the simplicity and sweetness of this scent a lot, and would love to see this in a smaller sized rollerball, as you can only choose between 1ml and 10ml sizes in their shop.

Perfect for: If you want to smell exactly like the banana part of a banana split. A banana pudding. Or like bananas in pajamas, coming down the stairs... 

Apple Pie Moonshine - Our Apple Pie Moonshine smells just like the southern favorite. Apple cider is combined with cinnamon, clove, vanilla, and other spices for a lush scent perfect for Fall and Winter. 

The opening starts by veering into scrubber territory, it reminds me a lot of this one memory - a jar of homebrewed moonshine that one of my classmates brought into school, one of those jars covered in layers of cling film, filled with something distinctly cloudy, pale and white, and it smelt incredibly sharp and a little off. This scent gives me similar vibes, a strange mix of spices, spoilt alcohol and apple cider, but it almost has an indolic vibe - a little like sour cat pee. After dry down of about 15 minutes, this reminds me a lot of Madchenland (Poesie), with the same apples and spice note. The apple here similar, but it has a sort of green apple, poisoned apple quality, with moments of sweet apple cider, but it's faint and fleeting. I don't get much apple pie at all. The mixture of spices here is also very much a standard 'festive spice' note, with a blend of allspice and cardamom, but clove here is the strongest note on my skin. 

This scent dries down nice, but the opening is a little difficult to get through. Personally speaking, I'm not a huge fan of the festive spice blend, and the apple here with the touch of moonshine goes a little too bright neon green for me. "Alcohol" notes also tend to vanish on my skin, so I imagine it might be different experience depending if you amp sharpness in blends. This blend was pretty linear, fading to a soft, spiced apple. 

Perfect for: Red autumn leaves, mulled spiced apple cider and a suspiciously shiny red apple from the witch next door.  

Peach Cobbler - Our take on a classic Southern dessert, our Peach Cobbler features notes of fresh peach, sweet dumplings, autumn spices, and some vanilla ice cream to finish it off.

Another blast of sharp, medicinal sweet peach here, but it mellows down almost immediately when it soaks into the skin. This scent, especially the peach note reminds me a lot of Peach Blossom (Nui Cobalt Design) after properly drying down for 5-10 minutes. This scent is okay, it smells a lot like iced peach tea, although aging this scent has really taken off the edge of the light spices, and the dumplings and vanilla ice cream add heavier thickness and creaminess to the scent. I personally didn't get any autumn spices in this, especially compared to the 'spice' in Apple Pie Moonshine. The sweet dumplings and vanilla ice cream just adds a sweet base to this scent, but it has relatively linear performance before fading to a nice creamy, sweet fruit blend.  

Previously I wasn't a huge fan of this, but I like this blend a lot more after having aged it, since the peach note really comes out a lot more. I love a peach note. It's a nice blend, although having to wait a year for it to really flourish is probably a little too long for most people. Personally, I like this scent, but my sample will be enough for me. 

Perfect for: an indulgent dinner like a scene out of Gone with the Wind, finished off with sweet peach liqueur and vanilla ice cream.