Harvesting of Chanel No 5's key rose ingredient

(26 May 2018) UPDATED LEADIN:
The Intergovernmental Committee for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage, meeting in Port Louis, has decided to inscribe the traditional skills related to perfume in Pays de Grasse, France on its list of "Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity".
There wouldn't be Chanel No 5 perfume as we know it without the addition of the delicate pink cenitfolia rose, the open secret to an otherwise mysterious fragrance.  
STORYLINE
The smell of centifolia rose wafts through the air at the Mul Family Estate in Pegomas.
The fragrance intensifies as one gets closer to the myriads of flowers gently moving to the tune of a soft wind.
It's early morning and dozens of workers are busy harvesting blossomed rose flowers in this area near the town of Grasse, the world perfume capital.
Also known as May rose or Rosa centifolia in Latin, the flower is a rare gift: it springs here near the French Riviera for only three to four weeks a year during the month of May.
With a delicate yet uniquely poignant scent, the rose centifolia is a key ingredient to the making of the legendary Chanel No 5 perfume.
The rose may also be cultivated elsewhere in the world, but fragrance experts say only the unique variety produced in these fields gives the exact same scent of the original Chanel No 5.
The perfume was created in 1921 by Chanel fragrance creator - a term also referred to as "nose" - Ernest Beaux.
At the time of its birth No 5 brought a revolution to the world of perfumery with its unique odour palette featuring over 70 different ingredients.
Although its exact formula is a secret, it's known that centifolia rose and jasmine play a starring role in it.
Chanel's head perfumer, Olivier Polge, says No 5 wouldn't be the same were it not for this harvest.  
"These flower fields are very important for us because they're the same that provided the ingredients for (perfume Chanel) No 5 when it was created. No 5 was made with the jasmine and roses that grow here and that possess a very special and distinct olfactory quality. This is why over the years we've made sure to keep this quality that contributes to No 5's hallmark."
No 5 burst into the world scene at a time when most of its peers were the expression of a single flower note such as rose or lily of the valley. Chanel No 5 broke all the rules with its complex symphony of flowers and scented essences.
As the fragrance rapidly approaches its 100th birthday, the formula of its longevity is as mysterious as its composition.
Certainly that famous endorsement by Marylin Monroe helped turn it into a classic, but Polge says the perfume's success is as much a product of these fields.  
"Sure, the secret lies in its formula but also in in the quality of its raw ingredients. It's like the colours on a painter's palette. We have a distinct palette and it's very important to retain it," the perfume creator explains.
The history of No 5, however, hasn't always been free of drama: in the late 1970s and in the 1980s many farms here began to disappear as a consequence of property development.
With fewer and fewer fields devoted to the production of jasmine and rose the very existence of No 5 came under threat.
Joseph Mul, the owner of the Mul Family Estate and a 5th generation flower farmer, remembers that crisis well.  
"Many small producers were interested in selling their lands for property development instead of working the fields. It's at that time, exactly in 1978, that the Chanel house and its head perfumer at the time, Jacques Polge, the 'nose', came to visit us."

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