At the end of a stressful day, there is no better way to unwind than with a glass of red wine. Oh go on, then. Make it two.
Yet on this occasion, as I step into the bath and prepare to soak away the cares of the day, I can safely say it is the first time I have required 144 large glasses of supermarket plonk to achieve the desired effect. That’s 461 units — just a tad over the two to three recommended daily for women by the NHS.
And while I appreciate wine with a lot of body in it, the body in question is not usually mine. Nonetheless, here I am lying back in a bath of red wine, my entire frame immersed beneath 48 bottles of Tesco Australian Red — at £3.50, among the cheapest vino available.
Pungent fumes crowd my nostrils. The world seems pleasantly fuzzy. I contemplate whether to submerge my chin beneath the waves, so I can blow bubbles in the dense claret brew. I am feeling mellow. Very mellow.
Bathing in red wine may sound a tad eccentric. But the principles of vinotherapy have been established in the beauty industry for 20 years, since it was discovered that polyphenols — antioxidants created in the wine-making process — are ten times more effective at preventing wrinkles than vitamin E.
Beauty therapists take the grape pips and pulp from the residue of wine-making and massage them into the skin — the pulp has excellent exfoliating qualities.
Red wine also contains resveratrol, which is believed to have long-term health benefits such as anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects.
There is a theory that resveratrol is behind the ‘French paradox’ — the fact that rates of heart disease are low in France, despite the nation’s rich diet. It is increasingly the go-to ingredient in pricey anti-ageing creams.
British spas are becoming ever more crowded with these vinotherapy products, promising to smooth, firm and exfoliate. The leading brand is Caudalie, whose luxury spas in Bordeaux, New York, Bilbao and Toronto offer myriad wine-based treatments, including submersion in entire baths of plonk. Caudalie opened a boutique and mini-spa in central London earlier this year, and business is booming.
Some top sportsmen believe the benefits of a hot bath laced heavily with red wine go even further.
An American basketball star recently posted a selfie on Instagram depicting him up to his armpits in booze, insisting it improves his circulation and he felt ‘rejuvenated, dominant and strong’. The picture went viral, with people across the world debating the benefits of bathing in wine.
But British consultant vascular surgeon Professor Mark Whiteley thinks it’s all rather silly. ‘There is no logical way you can benefit from red wine by lying in it,’ he explains.
‘Hot baths cause the blood vessels in the skin to dilate as the body tries to lose heat. That makes the heart beat faster, as more blood needs to be pushed through the now larger veins. This may be beneficial — it certainly feels nice. But adding wine? Strange.
‘Yes, research shows that red wine increases “good fat” called high-density lipoprotein, and this clears out “bad fat” — low-density lipoprotein — from blood vessels. But this effect is gained by drinking it, not lying in it. You can’t “drink” through your skin.
‘However, if you are lying in it, it’s not just your skin that’s exposed. Some might be absorbed across sensitive mucous membranes, getting alcohol into the bloodstream. It is certainly recommended that you do not drive afterwards’, Daily Mail informs.
