Vinotherapy, Stellenbosch
To be immersed in a tub, rubbed with oils and massaged with crushed grapeseeds may sound like an exotic erotic fantasy, but it's actually a new kind of spa treatment that is fast gaining adherents worldwide. Fiona McDonald finds out more about vinotherapy. The status of grapes was elevated for the first time when man began to learn about fermentation and the internal benefits of wine. Now a second image revolution is underway as grapes' external healthgiving properties are being recognised.
The process of harnessing these properties in therapeutic spa treatments such as massage, exfoliation and facials is called vinotherapy or grape therapy. The same chemicals that prevent artery clogging when used internally (by drinking red wine) are similarly potent when used externally - specifically polyphenols and resveratrol.
Scientific research has shown that polyphenols are highly potent antioxidants - up to 20 times more effective than vitamin C, for example.
Unless your eyes glaze over like mine whenever ads for the latest miracle cream appear on TV, you'll know that environmental factors such as cigarette smoke, pollution, alcohol and sunlight contain destructive oxygen molecules called free radicals that play havoc with our skin, tiring it out and ageing it prematurely. The best way to combat these free radicals is by using antioxidants.
While polyphenols are found in all plants, their active component - proanthocyanidin (PCO) - is particularly concentrated in grape skins and grapeseeds. And interestingly, Pinot Noir and its offspring, Pinotage, contain the highest concentrations of all grapes.
Among the first to research the advantages of grape proanthocyanidins was Professor Jacques Masquelier of the University of Bordeaux way back in 1948, but he was specifically studying the effect PCOs had on blood dilution and blood vessel strengthening. It's only in the last two decades that serious attention has been focused on the role of PCOs as a beauty treatment.
It was another Bordelaise researcher, Professor Joseph Vercauteren of the department of pharmacology at the same university, who established that PCOs are highly effective in countering free radicals - essentially preventing these nasties from causing the skin to age prematurely.
During a visit to Chateau Smith Haut Lafitte in 1993 Professor Vercauteren set the wheels in motion for the world's first dedicated vinotherapy centre. While on a walk on the historic Bordeaux wine property he mentioned to the owners that the detritus of the annual grape harvest - the seeds and skins - were a valuable source of PCOs.
In September 1999 Les Source de Caudalie opened at the Chateau. Five years later there are already nearly 10 specialist vinotherapy centres worldwide - from Canada, Spain and Mexico to one in South Africa.
The Santé Wellness Centre, ideally situated in the winelands near Paarl, offers a range of vinotherapy treatments. It has wisely established good relationships with its neighbours, who supply some of the raw materials used in the spa's own signature treatments.
"I did a lot of research in the Stellenbosch archives," says medical director of Santé, Dr Geraldine Mitton, " and found that a local woman, Johanna Brandt, wrote about a grape cure as far back as 1929."
Formerly an emergency medicine specialist, Dr Mitton quips that she's gone from fixing damaged hearts to trying to prevent them from being damaged in the first place.
The treatments At Les Source de Caudalie they not only harness the goodness of grapes but mix it with spring water tapped from more than 500m below the complex. So treatments involve exfoliation with crushed grapeseeds, massages using grapeseed oil and various other essential elements for both aromatherapy and lymphatic drainage, as well as their celebrated barrel bath. Here the patient is immersed up to the neck in a barrel of body temperature spa water to which red wine extract is added. Accompanying the wine wallow is "100% organic red vine leaf tea".
At Santé the vinotherapy comprises a Shiraz body scrub with crushed grapeseeds, sea salt, grapeseed oil and essential oils, followed by a vineyard shower - a light exfoliation with crushed grapeseeds under a Vichy shower. Next up is the Chardonnay cocoon wrap where Chardonnay lees is combined with bentonite clay and essential oils and plastered all over the body.
Hanepoot lymphodrainage is a manual massage that is good for those with water retention and cellulite. The Cap Classique massage is a unique "dry" water massage. Simply stated, you lie on a soft pack massage bed through which water jets stimulate or relax muscles to relieve stress.
The grand finale is the Cabernet Sauvignon wine casket bath, a multi-sensory experience incorporating sound, colour and magnetic field therapy. Sound is transmitted through the water, to which red wine colour extract has been added, while coloured lights in the bath stimulate the metabolism. Pulsed magnetic fields energise the water.
The entire Vinotherapy experience will set you back R1 240 - and includes a sumptuous (but healthy) lunch. Individual treatments, such as the Chardonnay wrap or Shiraz scrub, are R250 each.
Cosmoceuticals Local entrepreneur Tony McKeever, founder of The Renewal Centre Group, decided to utilise Prof Masquelier's research on antioxidants after being introduced to Caudalie's products by an Italian friend a few years ago.
"The question for me was: how do we come up with a point of difference, something that is uniquely South African? The South Africanness of the product had to be genuine." Benchmarking the Caudalie products and spending three years researching ways of incorporating indigenous elements, McKeever now markets the trademarked Renewal Vinetherapy™ and Grape-therapy™ range of items. *
"Pinotage provides us with the best raw materials," he says. He describes the range of over 50 products, which includes a Sauvignon Blanc shampoo, Cabernet body lotion and a Pinotage grapeseed soap, as "South Africa's miracle of nature".
McKeever's speech is peppered with words such as "cosmoceuticals" and "neutraceuticals", "probiotics rather than antibiotics" - and what it all means is that people (and medical aid companies) are recognising the benefits of being proactive when it comes to health.
Rewarding wellness and good health has been firm policy with progressive South African medical aid companies as a way of preventing the astronomical long-term costs of lifestyle diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
McKeever's ultimate goal is to open a destination spa and treatment centre. Dornier Wines in Stellenbosch seems the likely address.
"We want to see guys taking an hour or two out of a busy schedule to come along and have a back massage and a healthy lunch - with or without a glass or wine - and then heading back to work a little less stressed and definitely more relaxed.
"Not everyone has the time or the money to do the whole R1 500 or R2 000 spa day slap and tickle. But a quick spa treatment like a head and neck massage or a reflexology session has great benefits."
* Proprietary rights are claimed in both these names (Vinetherapy and Grape-therapy) and applications for the registration thereof as trademarks have been filed in South Africa. Trademark and patent attorneys Spoor & Fisher (handling the landmark Disney case which made headlines recently) have already clamped down on the misuse of the trademark Vinetherapy by a former distributor, and McKeever says that similar legal action will be taken against any other infringers who unlawfully attempt to ride on the back of his intellectual property. Santé has trademarked the term "Vinotherapy".
Terms to know Free radicals - destructive oxygen molecules Antioxidants - substances that prohibit or prevent oxidation and combat free radicals Polyphenols - antioxidant found in all plant matter (highly reactive chemical compounds) Proanthocyanidins - active component of polyphenols Resveratrol - a potent polyphenol
