Bulgarian Rose
A rich, fresh red-rose scent with soft honey, lemony brightness and gentle spice.
You may know it from A fragrant garden rose
Where it comes from
Steam-distilled from roses grown mainly in Bulgaria’s Rose Valley.
Worth knowing
Usually refers to rose oil, not a separate rose species.
About bulgarian rose
The Rose Valley sits just south of the Balkan Mountains and is really two valleys: Karlovo on the Stryama river in the west, Kazanlak on the Tundzha in the east. Roses have been grown there for centuries. The Kazanlak festival site says the first rose oil factory in Bulgaria opened in 1820, and the festival itself began in 1903, organised by the citizens of Kazanlak. It still crowns a Rose Queen.
The flower is Damask rose, Rosa damascena Mill., and the picking season runs from May to June. Pickers work by hand in the early morning, because that is when the blooms are richest in scent. Sources disagree on the cutoff: one says before sunrise, another 5 to 10 am, another by noon at the latest. The petals go to steam distillation, and the oil is cooled and separated from the water. A skilled picker, Taipei Times reported in 2015, can gather 25 to 30 kg in a morning, and about 3,500 kg of petals are needed for a single kilo of oil. Other sources give 3,000 to 4,000.
How much of the world's rose oil comes from Bulgaria depends on who is counting. Estimates run from close to half to around 70%, and one source reaches over 70% only by grouping Bulgaria with Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Annual output is given as roughly 1.5 to 2 tonnes, and the Kazanlak festival site says 95% of it is exported. Reporting from 2015 named France, the US and, increasingly, Asia as buyers.
Bulgarian rose oil was registered as an EU Protected Geographical Indication in 2014, after producers in the Kazanlak and Karlovo regions began the application in 2012.
The oil's composition is described in ranges: citronellol 24 to 35%, geraniol 13 to 22% and nerol 5 to 12%, among some 283 components. The harvest itself is shifting with the climate. Rose blooming in the valley recently began nearly a month earlier than the historical average.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Bulgarian Rose in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Bulgarian Rose most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Bulgarian Rose
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Bulgarian Rose.