Luxe Bathing in Bordeaux

They say the sap from grapevines has magical properties in Bordeaux. "The vine is crying," says Mathilde Thomas, estate owner and pioneer of what she calls vinotherapy, the use of grapes and vines in skin care. "But these precious teardrops are enough to put a smile on any woman's face."

Grape skins and seeds have long been known to possess antioxidant powers. Thomas and her husband, who own the Château Smith Haut Lafitte estate outside Bordeaux, joined forces with a local pharmacology professor to figure out a way to harness their fragile polyphenols for cosmetic purposes. Today, at their Caudalie Vinothérapie Spa in Bordeaux-Martillac, guests can enjoy the barrel bath treatment, in which bubbling hot spring water is enriched with superfine pieces of grape skin; the honey and wine wrap, or the crushed Cabernet scrub (caudalie.com). There are also Caudalie spas in Italy's Piemonte region and Spain's Rioja valley. Next month, New York's Plaza Hotel will open a center where guests will experience the full menu of treatments, as well as a wine lounge for tastings.

Other luxury spas also offer grape-based treatments. In the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, the ancient thermal-bath center Terme della Salvarola offers exfoliation and massage treatments using local Lambrusco di Grasparossa grapes (terme salvarola.it). And at the Four Seasons Spa in Carmelo, Uruguay, the silk wine treatment mixes Uruguayan wines with pine oil and eucalyptus honey in a full-body-enveloping treatment (fourseasons .com/carmelo/spa). It's body pampering that will leave you drunk with euphoria.

© 2008