The Best Wine Spa Treatments from Around the World

The Best Wine Spa Treatments from Around the World 2560 1707 Diana Spechler

It’s hard to get sick of drinking wine, but you don’t have to only drink wine. That is, you don’t have to only drink wine. At these spas around the world, you can get wine smeared all over your body. You can let wine remove your dead skin or make you glow or take ten years off your face. You can literally bathe in wine. As a skin care ingredient, wine has many known benefits. Most notably, “red wine is rich in antioxidants,” says Dr. Pamela Norden, a dermatologist in Wellesley, Massachusetts. She mentions the antioxidant resveratrol, which is found in red wine and known to help with anti-aging. Sparkling wines and champagnes can help to reverse aging, too. Dr. Katherine Bruya Reed, board-certified dermatologist in Spokane Washington, says that bubbly “contains polyphenols that are rich in antioxidants and can attempt to reverse photo damage and aging changes.” Champagne, she adds, “also contains tartaric acid, which has lightening effects and could even out skin tone if used regularly.” Here are some spas around the world where you can stretch out, close your eyes, and let wine make you even more relaxed and beautiful.

Napa, California

Next time you go to Napa, it’s worth it to stay at The Meritage Resort and Spa just to experience a spa in a 22,000 square-foot wine cave. Try the “Solo Vino” treatment and you’ll be exfoliated with a cabernet grapeseed scrub, body-wrapped in wine-cave mud, and sated with a glass of wine and a cheese plate. Another decadent option is the “Uncork” treatment: in addition to that grapeseed scrub, enjoy a wine-and-rosehip mud wrap, and at the end, a slathering of grapeseed lotion.

Los Cabos, Mexico

Cal-a-Vie

Grand Velas Los Cabos, a luxury resort in Mexico, offers the “Over the Top Wine Getaway,” which includes a private jet from the resort to Ensenada, Mexico’s best wine region, for private tastings and a make-your-own vintage experience (you’ll get to bring a case home with you). Before you catch your jet again, the resort’s two-star Michelin chef will make you a dinner with wine pairings in the middle of the vineyard. Back at the resort, hit the spa for a Red Wine Bath: a warm soak in red wine, red wine leaf extract, and grape marc. It’s a flood of antioxidants meant to do some serious anti-aging work on the skin. And since you’re in the area, be sure to check out Baron Balche, a Mayan-themed winery that only sells its wines in Mexico. The labels on the bottles feature Mayan symbols.

San Diego, California

Just north of San Diego, Cal-a-Vie is a health spa resort that offers several wine-treatment options: The products used in the “Vinothérapie Wrap” are made with grapes from Cal-a-Vie’s private vineyard, including Cabernet Sauvignon and Cabernet Franc, both of which the region is known for. Your whole body will be exfoliated, wrapped in a warm masque, and hydrated with Creme de Vin. The “Vinothérapie Massage” incorporates products that use every part of the grape – seed, skin, and pulp. And if you opt for the “Vinothérapie Bath Fizz,” you’ll soak with an effervescent bath ball made of hand-pressed salts, grape extracts, and essential oils.

South Moravia, Czech Republic

In the South Moravia region of the Czech Republic, there’s a whole resort dedicated to wine: Amande Wine Wellness Hotel. The hotel’s philosophy is to let guests experience wine with all the senses: you will definitely drink it (South Moravia is a high-quality wine region that produces most of the Czech Republic’s wine, including the little known Cabernet Moravia), but you can also enjoy wellness treatments with natural wine cosmetics (no parabens, no silicone) made from locally produced grape seeds. Every time you bathe at Amande, you’ll wash with wine. A few of their many bath products include shower gel with seed oil, cosmetic soap with crushed wine seeds, and bath oil made with the syrup of pressed, macerated wine grapes. Book a body peel with wine seeds or a body wrap with wine oil and beeswax.

Cle Elum, Washington

In Cle Elum, Washington State, Suncadia Resort, A Destination Hotel is a nature-lover’s dream, offering more than 40 miles of groomed hiking trails and white-water rafting. Once you’ve tired yourself out, hit the on-site Glades Springs Spa and, if it’s Wednesday, order the Wine-On Wednesday package. You’ll get two wine treatments of your choosing, a 10% discount, and a glass of wine. Pair the Chardonnay Sugar Scrub, a hydrating exfoliation treatment with wine, grapeseed oil, sugar, and shea butter, with a Wine Crush Pedi – the pedicurist will massage your feet with chardonnay-infused moisturizer. (If it’s not Wednesday, you can still have it all, just minus the 10% discount.) Washington State ranks second in U.S. wine production after California, so if you haven’t checked out the vineyards there, it’s worth a trip.

Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida

Mission Inn Resort & Club in Howey-in-the-Hills, Florida, just outside of Orlando, is all golf all the time – there are two 18-hole courses – but the spa slings a “Red Wine Collagen Facial” that includes not just red wine, but a Dead Sea salt scrub made with prosecco. For maximum fizz, each scrub is whipped up fresh just before the treatment; the therapist mixes the salt with tiny bottles of prosecco, so that all that carbon dioxide can oxygenate the skin. After your treatment, go check out the nearby orange groves. Howey-in-the-Hills is where Florida’s first citrus juice factory was erected in 1921. And while you might not think of Florida as wine country, it’s a pretty interesting scene – think wines made from tropical fruits, including key lime.

Diana Spechler is the author of the novels Who by Fire and Skinny, of the New York Times column Going Off, and of a forthcoming nonfiction book from Crown Publishing. Her work has appeared in GQ, Esquire, Afar, Travel & Leisure, Wall Street Journal, Saveur, Bon Appetit, and many other publications.

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