Photo: Ukrinform
The city of Bordeaux calmly and respectably stands on the banks of the Garonne, gazing into the water from the wide esplanade of Quinconces. All its streets lead to this esplanade, because it is there that the House of Wine is located - the main museum, an illustration of the meaning of life and a guarantor of prosperity. Here you suddenly begin to realize the sacredness of the surrounding reality: on one side lies the narrow strip of Médoc, on the other - Sauternes, around, like a green sea, the vineyards of Mouton Rothschild, Margaux, Saint-Émilion stretch out. To the very horizon, to the ocean, to the sky, to the end of the world extends the land of Bordeaux, filled with heavy clusters of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Chardonnay.
It was in this very city of Bordeaux, in the center of the sacred lands of the "cru", that the idea of vinotherapy was born. Its "father" was Professor Joseph Vercauter, of the Faculty of Pharmacy and head of the laboratory of natural substances at the University of Bordeaux. Long ago, back in 1994, the professor made an amazing discovery. Opening a bottle of wine, he found that it was incredibly beneficial to health. And he began to find out what and how it affects the body.
Professor Vercauter discovered that grape seeds have the most amazing effect. More precisely, the substances they contain - polyphenols. That these same polyphenols are literally an elixir of youth, if not immortality. Because the cause of aging and skin fading is the accumulation of free radicals in our poor body. And they accumulate literally from everything: from dust, cigarette smoke, daylight, stress. Previously, everyone thought that noble antioxidants - vitamins E and C - fought free radicals. But the professor proved that polyphenols do this much more effectively. In addition, these very polyphenols perform many other useful functions: they increase the resistance of blood vessels, improve blood circulation, protect elastin and collagen fibers, serve as a foundation for skin tissues, and therefore are responsible for its elasticity.
To believe in all these wonderful properties, it is enough to look at a fresh grape: it is so juicy, elastic, smooth, firm, silky. Just the skin of our dreams!
The Source of the Spring
However, one thing is the esteemed professor with his discovery, and quite another is the vinotherapy center! For a center, a more substantial foundation is needed. This foundation was found not far from Bordeaux, literally a 15-minute drive away, in the very heart of the wine country, at the Smith Haut Lafitte estate, in French Smith Haute Lafitte. And in this soil, thermal waters were found. The waters were discovered at a depth of 540 m, and they were rich in fluorine and iron, which is already good. However, why "were"? They still exist, gushing from a borehole directly into marble pools. They are called "Caudalie Springs", in French Les Sources Caudalie.
In addition to thermal waters, the Smith Haut Lafitte estate turned out to have a girl with an active life position, Mathilde Cathiard-Thomas, and her husband Bertrand. Mathilde, in fact, is the owner of the estate's own daughter, so her active life position is quite well supported financially.
Having become acquainted with Professor Vercauter's discovery and his remarkable laboratory, this whole company began to produce cosmetic preparations. They used mineral water from the Caudalie springs and the famous professor's polyphenols. A whole Caudalie philosophy was developed, whose main postulates were effectiveness and harmlessness. The preparations are made only from natural substances - from grapes and vine, they contain no dyes or animal fats. Today, Caudalie cosmetics enjoy incredible success throughout the world.
Inspired, the Smith Haut Lafitte people expanded their business: they built a hotel on the estate and opened the world's first Vinotherapy Center combined with a Beauty Institute. They gave the same name to their brainchild - "Caudalie Springs". Five years have passed since then, during which the hotel was expanded by one and a half times, the Vinotherapy Center gained worldwide fame, and the entire project was called by Americans the "French paradox". Although what is so paradoxical here - in the country of red gold, everything revolves around vineyards!
"Intoxicating" massage or a Merlot wrap?
The procedures offered at the Center resemble thalassotherapy, only instead of sea water and algae, red wine and grape seed oil, fresh crushed grapes, wine yeast, the youth hormone polyphenol, plant extracts, grapevine bark and other useful things are used. As in the cosmetic line, there is a taboo on chemistry, artificial dyes, and animal fats. The healing thermal waters of Caudalie also play a major role, since all procedures are carried out on their basis.
Vinotherapy relieves stress and excess weight, treats cellulite and body slagging, removes toxins, eliminates signs of premature aging and skin fading. Contraindications for such treatment are acute infectious and inflammatory diseases, some skin diseases. But in any case, the course of treatment is prescribed by a doctor and is done after an examination, as in a sanatorium.
The Center offers five main treatment programs: relaxation, rejuvenation, weight loss, detoxification, and recovery for new mothers. In addition, there are cosmetic procedures for the face and body. Each guest is prescribed an individual set of procedures according to their wishes. The minimum course of treatment recommended by the Center's doctors is one week. Even the names of the procedures sound like a song: honey wrap and Merlot wrap, Merlot baths, Sauvignon massage and "intoxicating" massage. Each of them brings true pleasure. For example, the "intoxicating" massage is performed with four hands under a mineral water shower, using grapeseed oil. The needle shower uses mineral water, and underwater massage takes place in a pool with the same mineral water. Hydromassage is done in a bath with an extract of grapevine. The Merlot wrap is a mixture of warm clay and vegetable oils, while the "Barrique" bath is made from mineral water with the pressings of fresh crushed grapes and vegetable oils.
Everything begins after an examination. The prologue is a sauna or a Charcot shower. Then a cloud of a fluffy terry robe gently falls on your shoulders, and the first powerful chord of the wine "barrel bath" sounds. Inside it splashes a balm for body and soul - Caudalie thermal water with wine extract, pressings from grape leaves, tannins, and vegetable oils.
The pleasures one hesitates to call treatment continue after a short rest. Then comes the turn of the honey and wine wrap. The fragrant mixture of fresh Gironde honey, wine yeast, and oils envelops the body, evoking a blissful feeling of peace and happiness.
A shower, rest on the terrace overlooking the vineyards, fresh juice or young wine precede the final chord - a massage based on grapeseed oil. And again rest, now in another room, in a warm and humid atmosphere created by a sprayer, on soothing water mattresses...
Bird Island
Not all guests of the Les Sources de Caudalie hotel come for wine therapy. Here stay lovers of luxury and rural silence, romantics and poets, escapees from big cities and cold countries.
The hotel's official category is four-star luxury, the highest on the French star scale. It has 49 rooms, each decorated in its own style.
Separately there are several smaller buildings: La Grange au Bateau, L’ole aux Oiseaux, La Maison du Liuvre, Le Comptoir des Indes. The "Bird Island" cottage stands on the shore of a swan lake and has only one room. La Maison du Liuvre is located between the lake and the vegetable garden: antique furniture, white beams, modern comfort in an antique coziness. In the building Le Comptoir des Indes, each room is decorated either in colonial style or in the spirit of different exotic countries; collections of furniture and ornaments from around the world are gathered there. Other interiors reflect themes of the sea, England, the Basque Country.
The hotel has a pool with thermal spring water, Turkish baths, a gym, a tennis court, and a small golf course. Entertainment here is of the simplest kind - cycling and walking tours through the vineyards, excursions to famous castles and wine cellars, trips to the Atlantic coast, to the oyster paradise of Arcachon.