Mid-afternoon among the many vineyards of Portugal’s Douro Valley and I’m in a drowsy, supine state. There’s the candy, heady aroma of wine within the air, a mellow soundtrack of strumming guitars. However this isn’t the tail finish of a boozy lunch. As an alternative, I’m within the spa, sampling a extra salubrious aspect to this area’s prized vines.
Grapes aren’t solely good for making scrumptious tipples, it seems. The signature remedy at Six Senses Douro Valley begins with a full-body scrub of grapeseed pearls and port, which preps the pores and skin for a sizzling stone therapeutic massage utilizing polished schist – the identical mineral-rich rock that dominates the encompassing panorama – positioned on my again to soften away muscle pressure. Two blissful hours within the remedy room (which, like many of the resort, has dramatic winery vistas) concludes with a wine-infused mini facial.
‘Grapes are a treasure trove of well being advantages, significantly because of their wealthy content material of antioxidants,’ says Javier Suarez, the resort’s wellness director. ‘Resveratrol, discovered within the skins, helps fight oxidative stress and irritation, contributing to coronary heart well being and probably even longevity.’
In skincare, Resveratrol is appreciated for its anti-ageing properties, selling pores and skin elasticity and firmness. Excessive in nutritional vitamins C and E, grapes additionally ‘help collagen manufacturing and shield the pores and skin from environmental harm,’ whereas the pure fruit acids slough away useless pores and skin cells.
The origin story of vinotherapy – deploying wine by-products resembling pips and pulp in therapeutic therapies – may be traced again to Bordeaux. Noticing how winery employees’ fingers remained remarkably youthful, French couple Bertrand and Mathilde Thomas began learning the pores and skin advantages of grapes within the Nineteen Nineties, ultimately launching the model Caudalíe.
A keep at Les Sources de Caudalie takes you again to the place all of it started. Whereas shire horses plough the property’s winery, grape-centric rituals within the wood-panelled vinothérapie spa embrace a half-day rituel des vignes, unwinding in a barrel tub earlier than being exfoliated with crushed cabernet grapes and anointed with heat, estate-grown grapeseed oil.
Now, vinotherapy is spreading additional afield. At Gillham Vineyard Hotel in Northern Cyprus, friends can soak in a shower of wine and important oils whereas overlooking the vines. Croatia’s rustic village-style resort Meneghetti Wine Hotel & Winery makes its personal pink wine serum.
For these whose tastes lean New World, attempt the grape-fortified facials at Mont Rochelle, set inside 39 hectares of vineyards in South Africa’s Winelands. Argentina’s trailblazing feminine winemaker Susana Balbo and her daughter Ana have transformed their household bodega into an art-filled seven-suite retreat, SB Winemaker’s House.
Opened in 2022, the Home takes pampering so severely friends get their very own wellness butler. Splash out on a three-hour Frutos De La Vid (From the Vine) remedy, together with a alternative of physique wraps utilizing both hydrating pink wine cream and raisin, or pink wine should (freshly pressed grape juice) and dust to purify and clean the pores and skin.
Remedies are taken in-room – and why not, when every pad is a de facto personal spa, full with its personal steam room and heated deck? (Enjoyable truth in regards to the grape-shaped concrete soaking tubs within the loos: they’re upcycled fermentation tanks.)
However nor ought to friends neglect the Balbo’s winemaking prowess; rooms have wine fridges stocked with Susana Balbo vintages, whereas guided tastings may be taken anyplace from the cellars and barrique (ageing) room to alfresco on the vineyard rooftop and out within the winery itself.
Some might even see the fusion of wine (ingesting, that’s) and wellness as contradictory. Isn’t a spa retreat meant to be all cold-pressed juices and natural tea? Not a lot if you happen to prescribe to the rising development for ‘gentle wellness’ – a much less stringent slant on self-care.
That is the ethos at Six Senses Douro Valley. ‘Our method is rooted in the concept that wellness just isn’t about deprivation however moderately about discovering equilibrium,’ Javier says, ‘celebrating life’s pleasures whereas nurturing one’s well being. Having fun with a glass of wine, savouring delectable delicacies, and immersing oneself in the fantastic thing about the environment are important components of a holistic and fulfilling expertise.’
Their wellness programme displays this by wanting past basic spa services (epic although they’re, with a cold-hot aquatherapy circuit, herb-scented salt and steam rooms, biohacking suite, a scenic forest sauna and swimming pool with underwater sound) to embody tree climbing, conscious artwork courses, full moon rituals and mixing backyard botanicals into your personal important oils on the Alchemy Bar, which has greater than a touch of a Harry Potter classroom about it.
Not forgetting the form of ‘remedy’ I often discover in wine, ie: setting the world to rights with buddies over a number of glasses. Which is precisely what I do within the Six Senses’ wine library and on its terrace after the warming schist remedy. Soothed, scrubbed and glowing, we dispense some vinho tinto (Quinta da Caldeirinha QC syrah, to be exact) from the enomatic machines and choose an outside couch.
With the solar dipping over the Douro River, gilding the valley’s harvest-ripe vines, I resolve celebrating the native grapes in all their guises – from spa to bar – is simply what the physician ordered.
In spite of everything, even Alexander Fleming was prepared to concede that wonderful wine supplies one thing his lifesaving drug can’t; ‘Penicillin cures,’ the scientist famous, ‘however wine makes individuals blissful.’
Discover out what occurred after we despatched a pair of winemakers for a wind-down at a wine retreat…
