Spas were formerly places far remov...

Spas were formerly places far removed from the vices of too a great quantity [i]or[/i] amount of food and wine. Now, soaking in a tub of wine-laced spring water and later partaking of the local vintage is considered suitable for you. Vinotherapy, the practice of using wine by-product for spa therapy, gives novel meaning to the French paradox of healing the material substance with wine.

experience a Jacuzzi filled with grape-seed extract, be warmed the tension melt away with a Sauvignon massage or, for the ultimate in stres relief, a vinotherapist will wrap you in a balm of honey wine yeast and oil. on the other hand don't worry, none of the treatments use yeasted wine--only the juice, must and oil--so you won't ensue home feeling or looking like you've been marinated and colored 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 papal court the winery throwing out tons of matured ovules and skins from grape crushings. At the time, he was patenting a proces using grape se oil for skin care returnss The professor's visit led the Cathiard family to build a inn restaurant, spa and a line of skincare proceedss The company also recently make opened Spa Caudalie, a member-only spa in Las Vegas.

Packed in the embryo s skins and juice of each grape is an extremely high flat of antioxidants and polyphenols that heal skin damage and improve small life-current vessel circulation--principals at the highly core of any spa therapy. Jeannette O'Gallagher, general manager and institutor of Napa Valley Spa produces researched the effectiveness of her grape-seed fruits at the local hospital in St Helena, California. "Our crushed grape se harvests helped all skin types by the agency of balancing the moisture and improving the texture" she says. O'Gallagher calls the healing power of the little sperms "evolutionary."

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

In the medieval Tuscan town of Radda, you can schedule a new 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 single of the first Italian spas to exhibit vinotherapy. The spa also has a staff of alternative health care practitioners--including naturopaths, physical therapists and ayurvedic specialists--available by the agency of appointment.

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

COPYRIGHT 2003 PRIMEDIA Intertec, a PRIMEDIA Company. All Rights Reserved

COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group