Don't make a rookie mistake and sojourn in Wine Country with the sole purpose of imbibing. Fitness and wellness programs are springing up all over the area, giving oenophiles plenty of opportunities to remedy their indulgent intake of food and alcohol. Check out the classes below if your body needs a little repentance.
nuts + bolts: As part of their Healthiest Year Yet program, Meadowood has reintroduced its Eco-Fitness class, wherein a trainer leads you on a challenging workout—tailored to your fitness needs, of course—through the resort's 4.5 miles of wooded trails. Suddenly, benches aren't places of rest, they're apparatuses for tricep push-ups; stairs enable calf raises; and hills are traversed lunge-style, obliterating any guilt racked up during your pig-out the night before at the resort's Michelin three-star restaurant.
bonus points: An après-regimen smoothie is provided to replenish the nutrients expended during the 90-minute adventure. Spring's cold-pressed concoction includes Bull's Blood beets, Red Cardinal spinach, and lemon.
hot tip: Splurge on the ayurvedic dosha massage: 75 minutes, two therapists, four hands, one blissful way to recover.
nuts + bolts: The Harvest Inn's Max and Relax package is designed to counteract the debauchery inevitable during a Wine Country sojourn. Superfood savant Sophie Jaffe whips up five nutrient-dense smoothies per day—flavors include a probiotic-packed piña colada and an anti-inflammatory Cacao Bliss—for a 48-hour cleanse that delivers on taste and performance.
bonus points: While your body undergoes repairs, you'll be treated to two 60-minute Swedish massages, using oils specially formulated with fennel, cypress, and black pepper to hasten the toxin purge.
hot tip: An hour-long outdoor yoga class overlooking the resort's vineyards is one way to take your mind off the hunger.
nuts + bolts: Floating through the dire straits? Calistoga Ranch's mind-body offerings are a good way to get anchored. Private lessons in qigong, tai chi, and yoga are available for guests who crave kinder, gentler fitness. But for the workout warriors among us, the intense Trainer in Residence program—still in the planning stages—tentatively includes a vineyard boot camp, a core-sculpting class, and, just for funsies, a lightning round of heart-pounding calisthenics in the form of a cardio-circuit class.
bonus points: Sign up for a sitting meditation session to give plain old stillness a shot at curing whatever ails you.
hot tip: A 60-minute guided hike through 140 of the resort's untamed acres is available as an add-on to any private class, just in case you like your wellness with a wilderness chaser.
Pedal to Wellness at the Farmhouse Inn
This add-on package includes one day of cycling through the vineyards, a healthy lunch en route, and, back at the ranch, a Wellness Solution massage, steam, and scrub. Really? This is kind of a no-brainer.
Fitness with Focus at Solage Calistoga
This new lineup at Spa Solage offers mind-body-soul nourishment with such programs as scenic group cycling (June 8-9), pre-ski season fitness sessions (November 3-7), and a qigong and energy retreat (July 11) with a bona fide daoist priestess-cum-doctor of medical qigong. Translation: too legit to quit.
This annual 10-day event features Yoga in the Vineyards at Sullivan Vineyards on July 12 (even if you're not an avid poser, go for the post-class food and wine pairing) and a series of wellness conversations with health and nutrition experts at Bardessono Resort on July 19.
Kinesiologist and anusara teacher Jami Grassi teaches regular yoga classes in her Napa Valley barn, with views of Atlas Peak at the Silverado Hills. Big-time brownie points for avoiding the whole sweaty-studio scenario.
This article was published in 7x7's May 2014 issue. Click here to subscribe.
