The world's best wine spas

Beautiful vineyard scenery, top-quality wines on hand and the ultimate in relaxation and pamper-treatment – what could be better for the weary wine lover? These six wine spa venues on three continents can go to the top of your bucket list

- ALICIA MILLER

Why do we drink wine? Put the more esoteric arguments aside and the reason is simple: it makes us feel good.

It does us good, too. Besides helping us to relax and unwind, boosting our mood and providing connection with others, wine has frequently been shown to have a positive antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effect.

Vinotherapy, the marriage between wine and spa, takes the idea of wine as cure to an entirely new level. By utilising the byproducts of the winemaking process - grape skins, pips, leaves, must and even sap from pruned vines - in treatments, it aims to heighten wellbeing in a natural way. Efficacy claims stem from the idea that wine grapes, which are rich in polyphenol resveratrol (see box, p78), can be used to provide intense moisturisation, a natural and waste-free exfoliant and anti-ageing benefits.

As a concept, vinotherapy is nothing new - historical records do show that some people, back through the Middle Ages to Roman times, would use wine, mixed with herbs and other flavourings, as part of their hygiene rituals. Prominent French beauty brand Caudalie has, almost since its inception by Mathilde and Bertrand Thomas in the 1990s, run wine-themed spas at the likes of Frank Gehry-designed Marqués de Riscal in Rioja, northern Spain, and its flagship Les Sources de Caudalie in Bordeaux's Pessac-Léognan region.

Today's vinotherapy is taking on a fresh shape, with a distinct shift from showmanship to science. Modern practice is increasingly sophisticated and nuanced, with new boutique brands and techie spas focused on the chemical potential of high levels of grape polyphenols to transform skin - in addition to theatrical soaks in barrel-style tubs.