Arrabelle Spa :

When they offered me the latest in spa pampering, something called “The Hot Wine Treatment” at Vail, Colorado’s RockResorts Spa, I imagined soaking in a vat of bubbling hot Black Tower Red while knocking back goblets of it at the same time. Surely a heady treatment like that would cure my insomnia. Or at least loosen me up for the spring moguls.

RUB IT IN
But The Vin Chaud Indulgence had nothing to do with a wine whirlpool, although drinking wine did come eventually. The treatment started out in the regular massage kind of way with me under a towel on a massage table while soothing sounds of cascading water echoed somewhere nearby. The ‘vino-therapist’ began by scrubbing my entire body down with Dead Sea salts “to exfoliate, detoxify and brighten the skin.” Next came an application of body cream and layering of hydrating oil leaves. It felt sublime but I had to ask what any of this had to do with wine.

“Ah, that’s next,” cooed the wine masseuse, as she proceeded for the next hour to massage every inch of my skin with full-bodied wine extracts complete with aromas of mango, black cheery, holly and cinnamon oils.

When I asked her if the treatment would make me drunk, she told me it was only the healthy compounds of the wine penetrating my skin. I would later learn that the root of vino-therapy’s effectiveness lies in the grapes’ vines. Key ingredients include antioxidant-rich grape seed, anti-aging and firming resveratrol from the stalks, polyphenols, brightening viniferine from the sap, hydrating vinolevure from the walls of wine yeast, and exfoliating grape acid.

WHEN IN ROME...
While vino-therapy isn’t new—Cleopatra apparently bathed in the stuff, and the use of wine and grapes in ritual skin and health care dates back to Rome, Greece and the Middle East—it’s relatively new to the spa world with only a handful of spas in Europe and North America offering the cutting-edge treatment.

Vino-therapy has been called a windfall to anti-aging technology with polyphenols especially gaining attention in the skin-health world. Full of antioxidants, they’ve also been found to include properties of  some anticancer drugs. When applied to the skin, polyphenols act as free radical scavengers, promoting tissue elasticity which supposedly takes years off your face.

POETRY IN MOTION
The treatment ended with a mini facial using potions smelling like a Mediterranean vineyard. Finally, I was shown into a room where a cute young guy delivered me that glass of Vin Chaud—a large goblet of mulled wine that made me think Robert Louis Stevenson was onto something when he wrote: “Wine is bottled poetry.”

And believe me, that night I slept like I was comatose, my insomnia only a hazy dream. 

FULL BODY VINO THERAPY
This 105-minute full-body treatment pampers guests with wine essence and Dead Sea salts, which combine to detoxify, exfoliate and brighten the skin. An application of body cream and a light layer of hydrating oil leave the body glowing and luminous. A full-body vino-therapy massage—rich in antioxidant wine extracts and the aromas of holly, mango, black cherry and cinnamon oils—eases sore muscles and rejuvenates the senses. After a mini-facial (featuring the enchanting scents of the vineyards), this lavish treatment concludes with a complimentary glass of wine.

$295 for 105 minutes

SPORTS ENTHUSIAST
To jump start the recovery process a dry brush is used for exfoliation and to stimulate lymphatic flow. Our nourishing Muscle Melt solution consisting of Aloe Vera Gel and a Classic Herbal Liniment is then applied and the body is wrapped to allow for maximum absorption and relaxation. This service is concluded with a tension releasing sports massage. Great for after skiing, hiking, biking, rafting, snow shoeing, walking, running, working out in the gym…you get the idea!  

$150 for 50 minutes
$230 for 80 minutes

ANTIOXIDANT GLOW FACIAL
 Enjoy a balancing cleanse in preparation for a nourishing, skin-softening honey-derived lactic acid & honey-goji berry exfoliant mask that revives and moisturizes the skin. This treatment is completed with an application of active, nourishing peptide & antioxidant age-repair serums and moisturizers high in Vitamin C, that give the result of energized, toned, dewy-moist, plumped, and younger looking skin. The 80 minute version includes an anti-aging hand and hydrating foot treatment, leaving you ....