imagine your head of procurement delivers this news: 80% of your flagship product's character comes from a single supplier you've never contracted with, never paid, and whose capacity has declined 90% in the past century. that supplier is still operating—but barely. and your competitors are circling.
this isn't hypothetical. it's the situation facing every luxury brand that depends on terroir—the irreplaceable character that place gives to product.
the grasse problem
in the hills above cannes, 350 kilograms of jasmine flowers—picked by hand at dawn before the sun degrades their oils—yield just one kilogram of waxy concrete. that concrete refines to roughly 550 grams of absolute. this is jasminum grandiflorum, the aromatic heart of chanel no. 5, cultivated in grasse since the 16th century.
the mul family has supplied chanel from these same fields since 1987. UNESCO recognized the tradition as intangible cultural heritage in 2018. grasse's microclimate—mediterranean warmth moderated by 350-meter elevation, limestone karst soils, and irrigation from the siagne watershed—produces a fresher, greener jasmine profile found nowhere else.
but here's the number that should concern every brand that depends on place-based ingredients: grasse's flower fields have shrunk over 90% from their peak.
synthetic aroma chemicals are cheaper, more consistent, and don't require hand-picking at dawn. the economics make sense—until you realize that "grasse jasmine" on your label means nothing without grasse.
terroir is a supplier you've never contracted with
terroir isn't a marketing story. it's a supply chain dependency.
the soil microbiome, the water chemistry, the elevation, the specific cultivars adapted over centuries—these aren't replicable in a lab. when burgundy floods or california burns, the vintage is gone. when grasse's flower fields convert to real estate, the absolute doesn't come from somewhere else. it just disappears.
most companies treat terroir as an externality—something that exists, provides value, and requires no investment. but externalities have a way of becoming very expensive when they fail.
| traditional approach | the problem |
|---|---|
| source from terroir | no investment in its protection |
| market the provenance | no stake in its continuity |
| assume it will persist | no plan for when it doesn't |
the brands that get it
chanel's investment in the mul family's fields isn't charity—it's supply chain security. they're protecting the infrastructure that makes their product irreplaceable.
but this model doesn't scale. most brands don't have the resources or foresight to directly fund every ecosystem their products depend on. and even chanel can't protect the broader mediterranean climate patterns that make grasse's microclimate possible.
what's needed is infrastructure—a way for value to flow back to the ecosystems that create it, without requiring every brand to become a conservation organization.
ensurance: funding terroir at the source
ensurance coins create a new funding mechanism for the ecosystems that create place-based value. trading activity generates proceeds that flow to designated stewards—funding protection before the terroir disappears.
three coins now exist for this purpose:
$jasmine
funds pollination and aesthetic-sensory ecosystem services globally. the ~200 species of jasminum span asia, the mediterranean, and oceania—each evolved to attract nocturnal moths, each threaded through human culture from indian wedding garlands to chinese tea to french perfume. $jasmine protects the ecological relationships that make fragrance possible, everywhere.
$grandiflorum
funds the northeastern spain and southern france mediterranean forests ecoregion and cultivated agricultural lands. this is place-specific: the exact biogeography that produces grasse jasmine. trading $grandiflorum directly funds the terroir that makes jasminum grandiflorum irreplaceable.
$terroir
funds healthy soils, climate stability, and water abundance—the three ecosystem services that combine to create place-based character anywhere. whether it's burgundy pinot noir, ethiopian coffee, or grasse jasmine, terroir emerges from the same ecological foundations. $terroir protects the pattern, not just one instance.
what this means for brands
if your product depends on place-based character, you have a supply chain exposure you're probably not managing.
the traditional options:
- hope the terroir persists (it probably won't)
- vertically integrate into land ownership (expensive, limited)
- switch to synthetics (lose the differentiation)
the ensurance option:
- trade coins that fund the ecosystems your product depends on
- create visible, verifiable commitment to terroir protection
- contribute to shared infrastructure that benefits the entire category
this isn't CSR. it's supply chain risk management with a new instrument.
the window is closing
grasse's 90% decline didn't happen overnight. it happened while everyone assumed someone else would protect it.
the brands that move first will have the strongest claim to authenticity when terroir becomes scarce. the brands that wait will find themselves explaining why "inspired by grasse" is just as good as the real thing.
it won't be.
explore the coins:
- $jasmine — the genus, the global ecosystem service
- $grandiflorum — the species, the specific place
- $terroir — the pattern, the ecological foundation
learn more: