In Praise of…The Body Holiday, St Lucia
If you go to the Body Holiday in St Lucia, and you chat to other guests, don’t ask them ‘have you been here before?’ ask them ‘how many times have you been here before?’ You will be taken aback by some of the answers. 4, 5, 6, 9, 11, 16, 22, 40. (Yes, these are real numbers that I got from people).
Why to people keep going back? The answer is easy. It really is that good.
Firstly, the glorious Caribbean weather. Even in the rainy season, (which I think is September) where you will get some rainy days, there only seem to be a few of them and the other days are fabulously hot. There are two swimming pools and a lovely beach if you want to relax in the sun and swim.
But it is a health retreat, and there is a gym facilities, exercise classes (including some in the pool which are great fun). There are water sports such as snorkelling, scuba diving, paddle boarding, wind surfing and yachting. You get a treatment a day included, such as full massage, body scrubs, yogurt wraps, and facials. This is done at their Wellness centre. They sometimes invite people up there for cocktail drinks in the evening. I took some photos on one of these, and you can see how nice it looks there.
You can book direct to the Body Holiday here.
Or if in the UK, and you want a tour operator to arrange this, and flights combined I can recommend Caribtours.
The holiday included free wine with my evening meal. There were expensive wines that one could buy, and I did go to their Wine Shop to taste and buy some of them. See next post on my wine tasting experience there. But for this post, I am just looking at the free inclusive wines.
The wine list
There are three reds, three whites and a rosé that I tasted. (Note: I didn’t get round to trying the sparkling white.)
Firstly remember that these wines were inclusive with the holiday, so in effect free to drink once you had booked. So they are not going to be amazing. But all quite acceptable.
The reds
From some of my tasting of the cheaper wines from France, I am beginning to avoid the cheaper Merlots. And again here, I found that the Merlot from Luis Felipe Edwards was my least favourite of the three. Just a bit too rough/sour. When buying cheaper wines in France (see next months post) I have found the Cabernet Sauvignons a much better bet. And here too, this was a very acceptable wine to have with the meal (if choosing meat). Chatting to one guy who was on his 16th visit, he always chose this wine, and you cannot go wrong with it.
However, my favourite of the three reds was the Shiraz. I found it the smoothest most aromatic in aroma and taste of the three reds. I have not bought any of these yet in France for review but will do on my next trip. Except that when I buy in France to compare with the Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon reds, I will probably buy a Syrah. I could try to explain the difference and similarities between a Shiraz and a Syrah, but better to just provide a link to a more expert site for this. Shiraz vs Syrah, what’s the difference.
The whites
I was alternating between a meat meal one day with a red, and a fish meal the next with a white. This is a well know basic wine rule, and I actually sometimes breaking this rule. But on this trip I decided to stick to it.
Normally I am a fan of Pinot Grigio, and is the wine I normally buy at East Parade Social after spending a day working on this blog at Avenue HQ. However I was not overly keen on this one, It seemed to have a slightly bitter taste to it.
I had changed my mind about Sauvignon Blancs having tasted some very good ones from New Zealand. And tasting this one confirmed by new found rule, if you want a Sauvignon Blanc, has to be Kiwi. This one was reasonably pleasant, but a bit too sweet for me.
My favourite of the three whites was the Chardonnay. It had a pleasant aroma, nice flavour and quite dry. It went went well with all the meals that I ate with it.
A surprisingly nice rosé
I stayed with the reds and white for most of my time. Towards the end I thought that I must try some of the others. I did not get round to trying a sparkling white, but did try the rosé. The three reds and three whites were all from Luis Felipe Edwards in Chile.
But the rosé was from a producer called Octerra, using the Syrah and Grenache grape. I wish that I had tried this earlier during the holiday. It was very nice, light and refreshing but full of flavour. Of the chilled wines, this was my favourite.
Coming soon, at the wine room
All these wines were free (well included in the package).
At the Body Holiday, they have have a wine room with experienced sommeliers and a great choice of more expensive wines. You can organise wine tasting sessions there. They also sometimes do some free wine and cheese pairings/tastings. Too much to write about here, but keep posted, there will a post about this coming soon.
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