Les Sources de Caudalie

Angelique Brasseur

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Where else but Bordeaux could wine be essential not only to a hotel's restaurant, but also to its health spa?

A luxury hotel set among vines, 15 minutes from downtown Bordeaux. A health spa with treatments based on the skins, pips and stalks that are discarded during the wine-making process. This alone should let you know not to expect matrons in white coats, but a slightly more pleasure-loving approach to the hotel-spa experience.

Daniel and Florence Cathiard opened Les Sources de Caudalie five years ago. It is one of those ideas that you can't believe took so long – vineyards are pretty much universally recognised as being agreeable places, and spa hotels have spread around the world at a rate of knots. Couple that with the recent discovery that polyphenols in grape skins are 10,000 times more effective than Vitamin E in protecting the skin from free radicals, and the advent of a luxury resort based around wine seems obvious.

But this remains the first and only of its kind in France, although there are plans to open a sister establishment in California. The hotel and spa are built over a natural water source, 540m below ground, which provides the spa with the huge mineral-rich Jacuzzi that the treatment rooms are centred around. It’s also worth knowing that this is a see-and-be-seen spot for the Bordélaise, so book your treatment well ahead of time (we recommend the red wine soak in a barrel).

All bedrooms have spectacular views – the Cathiards just happen to own Chateau Smith Haut-Lafitte next door – but bear in mind that vines out of season look a little sorry for themselves.

A Michelin-starred restaurant completes the experience where you can, if you insist, follow a 500 calorie menu, but you need to give 24 hours' notice. They would far rather you ate the truffle-infused Tuscan bean soup, accompanied by a grand cru classé. As we mentioned, this is a spa experience à la Bordélaise. Enjoy.

Room rates : From €185 for standard room with en-suite bathroom and view of vines to €450 for private lakeside cabin. Breakfast from €18.

Rooms to ask for : If you are feeling flush, ask for the L'Ile aux Oiseaux, a wooden cabin suspended over a lake. Apparently, John Galliano celebrates Christmas here every year. For the basic rooms, we like La Part des Anges on the ground floor with its antique claw-foot bath and cherubs on the walls.

Number of rooms : 49

Phone : 00 33 5 57 83 83 83

FAX : 00 33 5 57 83 83 84

Address : Chemin de Smith Haut-Lafitte, 33650 Bordeaux-Martillac, France.

Website : www.sources-caudalie.com

Map : link to Multimap

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