ITALIAN CYPRESS

Sure, a whiff of citrus-orange hits you at the beginning, but after a few minutes this is getting serious. A boozy wood emerges, a rich, dark tapestry of dark greenness, with the undertone of damp forest grounds and the earthy smell of coniferous aromas in the air.

In the drydown the cypress developed slowly but convincingly, and I am also getting some herbal undertones with occasional minty glimpses, like the sun rays breaking through the dense roofs of tree tops in the autumnal Šforest.

Yes, there are clear reminiscences of the vintage version of Polo Green, especially the old bottle I picked up from an old shop in Dunedin (New Zealand) many years ago, but this TF is richer and boozier than the Ralph Lauren. Other similarities are found with Bogner's Deep Forest, with Torrente's for Men - without the spice and amber - with Monsiour Couturier and with one of my perennial favourites, Dunhill Blend 30, but Italian Cypress is quite linear, more straightforward, less rich, a bit less textured and less nuanced than those Greats are.

What Italian Cypress shares with these scents is that it is made of top-quality ingredients and how beautifully it is blended. This bears the hallmark of TF in his heydays at Gucci, when the original Gucci Pour Homme I was released, before TF departed to set up his own shop and before Gucci focused on becoming a juvenile olfactory candy store.

The sillage is moderate, the projection excellent and the longevity a stupendously sensational sixteen hours on my skin - now THAT is longevity!

A great autumnal product of impeccable traditional craftsmanship, which is given a contemporaneous makeover. This is indubitably one of Tom Ford's finest.  Released 2008.  Now, alas, discontinued.  4/5