From a Wine Bath in Georgia to a New Life for Oregon Wine
Kelly Lewis was leading a wine tour through the Republic of Georgia when she found herself sitting in a bathtub of wine. It was warm, unusual, and deeply connected to the place she was visiting. She took photos, sent them to friends, and began imagining what the experience might look like in Oregon.
“I just fell in love with it,” she tells Stefanie LaHart on The Wild Party Podcast.
“I loved the like ancient concept behind it. I loved the natural concept of like actually being in wine produced in this winery, in this space.”
Kelly had already built a career around introducing people to experiences beyond their everyday lives. She founded Go! Girl Guides, a series of travel guidebooks for women, followed by Women’s Travel Fest and Damesly, a small group tour company. But opening a spa would take her into an entirely new industry.
One Phone Call Led to a Spa
Back in Portland, Kelly kept thinking about a massage business she knew. Its treatment rooms seemed suited to the wine spa she could picture, though the space was occupied. Then she drove past and saw a lease sign in the window.
“I was like, let me just call, right? Let’s just take the first step,” she recalls.
Her timing mattered. The property’s interior walls were about to be demolished, and Kelly asked that they be left in place. They gave her a starting point, but there was still plenty to solve: financing, plumbing, treatment equipment, staffing, and the question of how wine would behave in a spa tub.
“There’s nobody that I can ask because we’re one of one,” she says.
She had to develop her own cleaning protocols and choose tubs without knowing whether the wine might stain them. An SBA loan helped fund the Portland location, but approval took months, and the buildout and first year cost more than she expected.
Kelly is candid about misjudging how quickly the business would get busy. She initially hired more guest services staff than the spa could support and later had to make painful adjustments. “You just burned through money so fast in brick and mortar,” she says.
Finding the Wine, and Finding a Purpose for It
Kelly wanted The Wine Spa to have the same connection to its surroundings that she had felt in Georgia. For an Oregon spa, that meant working with Oregon wineries. She posted in a group for Willamette Valley growers and producers, nervous that they might dismiss her idea.
Instead, people responded. One producer had wine she could not sell because of a bottling and labeling error. It was still usable, but storing it was expensive. Kelly offered to buy it for the spa.
That exchange became the foundation of a partnership model. Winemakers now contact Kelly about wine that does not fit their needs, whether because of a production error or a flavor profile they cannot use. She is careful to distinguish that wine from spoiled wine. It gets a different purpose in the spa’s treatments.
Even when producers offer their surplus for free, Kelly prefers to pay.
“It is important to me that we give these winemakers something back,” she explains. “It should still feel like a win-win.”
The spa has changed its process along the way. Wine once arrived by the case, leaving the team with large numbers of bottles to recycle. Kelly says they now use mostly kegged wine, which is easier to handle and cuts down on that glass.
What Happens in a Wine Bath?
For guests wondering whether they are submerged in straight wine, Kelly offers a clearer picture. The Portland spa’s tubs contain a warm mixture of water, minerals, and red wine. A guest can book a soak on its own or move from the tub to a massage or facial in the same private treatment room.
And yes, the bath smells like wine.
“It is a multi sensory experience,” Kelly says, though she assures Stefanie that guests do not emerge dyed purple.
The wine offered to drink is separate from the wine in the tub. There are nonalcoholic drink options as well, a welcome detail for Stefanie, who no longer drinks but would still love to try a soak.
The Dundee location, inside The Dundee Hotel, takes a more social approach. Guests can gather for wine foot soaks in zero gravity chairs, making the smaller space a fit for groups and celebrations. Kelly opened it just six weeks after her first conversation about the opportunity.
Building Something People Want to Talk About
The Wine Spa was named one of TIME’s World’s Greatest Places of 2025, an honor Kelly still finds astonishing. Yet recognition does not mean everyone knows what vinotherapy is. She continues to introduce the concept through guest reviews, word of mouth, and playful social videos. TikTok, she says, has been especially effective at bringing people through the door.
Kelly’s story has the charm of an idea born on vacation, but its success rests on the work that followed. She made the call about the empty storefront. She learned the limits of her opening budget. She asked winemakers for help and found a way to pay them for something they could no longer sell.
“I had no business doing any of these things and just did them anyway,” she says of her entrepreneurial journey.
In Oregon, that willingness to begin has given an old wine ritual a new setting, and given local wine another life.
Listen to Kelly’s conversation on The Wild Party Podcast and learn more about The Wine Spa at thewinespa.com.
