Quick Sniff: Ayala Moriel Sabotage

I don't like red wine. But every time Himself has a glass I try a sip, just in case that's the glass that changes my mind. And every time I eat at a buffet that offers grits, I try some, in the same hope. (No, that doesn't happen often on the West Coast, but I used to visit relatives in Tennessee.)

Chicory. White chocolate. Coffee. Mashed potatoes. Zucchini. There are a lot of things I'd like to like, so I keep trying them. Once in a long while it works, too--I once tried hummus in a Japanese(?!) restaurant in Nashville, and was sold on the stuff.

I want to like vetiver. But the few vetiver perfumes that I like never really seem to be vetiver. They're related to vetiver in the sense that those attitude-free canned olives that you find on buffet salad bars are related to the sharp, bitey olives that make me squeeze my eyes shut when I eat them. Vetiver Tonka, for example. Or Creed Original Vetiver. They're nice. Friendly. Non-threatening. I like Vetiver Tonka quite a bit, but I think that's more about the Tonka than the Vetiver. And I've been meaning to give away Original Vetiver.

Ayala Moriel Sabotage may be the vetiver fragrance that turns me around. It doesn't blow my head off, but the vetiver isn't nervously peering past a layer of cream sauce, either. It's grassy, with a little attitude and bitterness as a companion to the citrusy notes. I don't get the tobacco and tonka mentioned in other reviews, but there is something keeping it grounded. I like it. A lot.

I'll try it again, soon. Maybe it'll convert me.

(The picture? I went looking for photos of grits. I think that dish might do the job.)
Image: Wikimedia Commons.