The region around Leukerbad is rich in another earthy resource. Some of the highest-altitude vineyards in Europe flourish on the outskirts of the village, supplying wine for the dinner table and grape seed for vinotherapy spa treatments. Chardonnay facials and sauvignon-spiked soaks are a potent new trend, but vinotherapy dates to the Romans.

The vinotherapy spa is too tempting to pass up. Tucked into the inn’s 36 wooded acres, it’s the perfect place to relax as the snow falls. Try the wine barrel soak, with French chardonnay grape-seed extract, and then sweat away your tension in the steam room to make the experience last longer.

A French chateau is planning to cash in on studies showing the beneficial effects of wine by launching the world's first alcoholic health spa. … The firm's turnover has grown from Fr2.5 million in 1996 to a likely Fr420m this year, and its products will be a central part of the 'vinotherapy' offered by Chateau Smith Haut-Lafitte.