Born in Bordeaux, beloved by beauty insiders: The skincare line that's outshining Vitamin C

The French have a word for the seconds a wine's flavour lingers on the palate. Each one is called a caudalie, a measure of longevity, depth and staying power. The same logic applies rather neatly to skincare.

Ett Hem is the kind of place that understands this sense of quality instinctively. Tucked into a residential Östermalm townhouse, it operates like a very well-appointed home-away-from-home that happens to have exceptional taste in everything. Naturally, it is where the skincare savvy Stockholmers gathered to celebrate Caudalie's cult Vinoperfect serum with Vogue Scandinavia.

Glasses of wine in hand, guests settled into the sitting rooms as editor-in-chief Martina Bonnier opened the evening with warm words about Caudalie's most beloved products. The Beauty Elixir, launched in 1997 and still causing scenes in makeup bags worldwide today. The Vinoperfect Serum – the star of the night – has been considered cult since 2005, and is still sold somewhere in the world every 15 seconds. Really, they're the skincare equivalent of a grand cru.

The science and history behind the serum is as compelling as the mythology. It begins in the vineyards of Bordeaux, at Château Smith Haut Lafitte, where a chance encounter in 1993 between founder Mathilde Thomas and a professor of pharmacy surfaced something unexpected: grape seeds contain some of the most powerful antioxidants in existence.

A decade later came Viniferine, a sap found in vine stalks and long known among vineyard workers to fade dark spots on their hands. Caudalie isolated it, patented it, and built the Vinoperfect Serum around it. The result is an active ingredient 62 times more effective than vitamin C on dark spots caused by sun, age, acne, pregnancy and blue light, on all skin tones. And, much like the vines it comes from, which survive for over a century, it is built to last.

Between canapés and a skin-scanning station that had guests confronting their dark spots with varying degrees of enthusiasm. The scans were, predictably, illuminating. The wine, helpful, when dealing with the dark spot dread. And the Vinoperfect? Essential in combating our own dark spots.

See all of the images from the event below and shop the Vinoperfect range.