Sauvignon soak - vinotherapy

Better Nutrition, Jan, 2003 by Kimberly Lord Stewart

Spas were once places far removed from the vices of too much food and wine. Now, soaking in a tub of wine-laced spring water and later partaking of the local vintage is considered good for you. Vinotherapy, the practice of using wine by-products for spa therapy, gives new meaning to the French paradox of healing the body with wine.

Try a Jacuzzi filled with grape-seed extract, feel the tension melt away with a Sauvignon massage or, for the ultimate in stress relief, a vinotherapist will wrap you in a balm of honey, wine yeast and oil. But don't worry, none of the treatments use fermented wine--only the juice, must and oil--so you won't come home feeling or looking like you've been marinated and cooked in Beef Bourguignon.

The practice of spa vinotherapy originated at the Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte in Martillac, a town in the Bordeaux region of France. During a visit to the chateau, Joseph Vercauteren, a local pharmacology professor, was appalled to see the winery throwing out tons of seeds and skins from grape crushings. At the time, he was patenting a process using grape seed oil for skin care products. The professor's visit led the Cathiard family to build a hotel, restaurant, spa and a line of skincare products. The company also recently opened Spa Caudalie, a member-only spa in Las Vegas.

Packed in the seeds, skins and juice of every grape is an extremely high level of antioxidants and polyphenols that heal skin damage and improve small blood vessel circulation--principals at the very core of any spa therapy. Jeannette O'Gallagher, general manager and founder of Napa Valley Spa Products, researched the effectiveness of her grape-seed products at the local hospital in St. Helena, California. "Our crushed grape seed products helped all skin types by balancing the moisture and improving the texture," she says. O'Gallagher calls the healing power of the little seeds "evolutionary."

Vinotherapy has reached outside the borders of France to the Napa Valley and, most recently, Tuscany. The Auberge du Soleil, in Rutherford, California, offers a menu of spa treatments, all using the famed seed. "The wine therapy is one of our most popular treatments," says Peggy Francis, spa director. "People like it because it doesn't have any synthetic smells, only a natural, earthy scent."

In the medieval Tuscan town of Radda, you can schedule a fresh grape massage or dip into a tub spiked with the juice and oils of the local San Giovesse grapes. Here, the Chianti Wellness Center is one of the first Italian spas to offer vinotherapy. The spa also has a staff of alternative health care practitioners--including naturopaths, physical therapists and ayurvedic specialists--available by appointment.

The modestly priced day spa is currently in a growing phase and, as of press time, will have opened a larger center in Radda, Colle Val d'elsa (both in Chianti), Sasso Marconi (near Bologna) and, in a year's time, Montepulciano.