Acqua Colonia White Peach & Coriander Eau de Cologne

Tart rather than sweet is the surprise in 4711 Acqua Colonia White Peach and Coriander Eau de Cologne, and redcurrant is the material responsible.

It gives the opening a sharp, slightly sour fruit edge, and around it sit bergamot, lemon and orange for citrus lift and cassia for a warm, biting spice that you would not expect to meet this early. Within a quarter of an hour the middle takes shape, and it is an odd and likeable mixture: basil green and faintly aniseed, lavender clean and herbal, lily of the valley cool and watery, plum deeper and winier than the redcurrant above it, and bergamot again, repeated from the top to keep the citrus running through.

The base is soft and modern. Cashmeran gives a dry powdery warmth with a slight grain to it, musk keeps everything close to the skin, tonka bean adds a sweet roundness, amber a low glow and petitgrain a bitter green finish.

Fourteen materials in all, which is a proper build for a cologne, and the result has more shape than the usual splash. It still behaves as a cologne, mind: bright and clear for an hour or two, then a soft warmth on the skin that asks to be refreshed by mid afternoon.

Alexandra Monet composed it. It reads as unisex, works through spring and summer particularly well, and suits anyone who wants fruit in a scent without the sugar that usually comes with it. The house is among the longest established cologne makers in Europe, though not under its original billing: its founder spent decades trading under the Farina name, borrowed from an older and better known firm, and was ordered by a court to give it up in 1873.