Midnight Bergamot – Sanctuary

Midnight Bergamot – Sanctuary

Limited Edition ∙ Hand-poured in Cyprus ∙ 280 g / 9.88 oz ∙ ≈ 70 hours Only 99 poured worldwide

The bergamot in this candle grows wild in the abandoned citrus groves above Episkopi, high on the limestone cliffs where the British left in 1960 and the trees were never replanted. Each January, under a waning moon, a single family climbs the terraces at 3 a.m. to pick the fruit by hand — the only moment the night air is cold enough to lock the oil’s violet, almost iodine bitterness. One hour after sunrise the edge is gone forever.

We receive those few dozen kilos in chilled copper flasks before dawn, then carry them across the island to a 400-year-old Venetian warehouse in old Limassol. There, at exactly 4.7 °C, we fold the oil into wax so the top-note never bruises.

What emerges is a bergamot that should not survive winter, yet somehow does.

A lightning flash of wild Cypriot bergamot against absolute black hemlock and night-blooming jasmine that opens only for the sleepless. A saline ribbon of ambergris — gathered from the exact winter currents that strike the Limassol breakwater — rises and refuses to leave the room for weeks.

The Sanctuary vessel is mouth-blown in frosted matte milky white glass by the last master in Lefkara village, using a formula kept secret since the Lusignan kings. The lid is solid gunmetal turned in Pano Lefkara, heavy enough that lifting it feels like opening a reliquary. The interlocking CC monogram is acid-etched by hand.

Seventy hours of slow, 100% Soy Wax deliberate flame. The melt pool turns the color of wet ink catching moonlight on the empty Limassol promenade at 3 a.m. — the precise hour the groves exhale and the city forgets its name.

When the last wild Episkopi fruit is picked, this Sanctuary closes forever. No replants. No second harvest. No exceptions.