Inside the luxe new spa offering a $1,500 wine soak

Toronto has spent the past few years freezing, roasting and otherwise biohacking itself in the pursuit of “wellness.” Aire Ancient Baths swerves hard in the opposite direction—the city’s splashiest new bathhouse doesn’t promise hormesis (the stress-your-body-to-fix-it theory that sauna–cold plunge evangelists swear by). This Spanish spa chain’s first Canadian outpost—joining locations in Barcelona, London, New York and Copenhagen—is a pleasure palace designed for indulgence, not grit. Its most decadent flex? A $1,560 wine soak.

The Signature Wine Experience is a two-and-half-hour soak-and-massage marathon for two that takes place in a private bath filled with Spanish tempranillo. (The cost for a solo soak is a mere $860.) Every visit begins with a leisurely trip through the thermal circuit, easing the body into a loose, relaxed state before the main event: 45 minutes submerged in warm wine (it’s non-alcoholic, so don’t get any ideas). The percolation is followed by a one-hour massage using grape-derived oils rich in skin-smoothing polyphenols and culminates with a facial involving ice-cold cryo-sticks.

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While the wine soak is the marquee indulgence, Aire doesn’t necessarily require a four-figure commitment—only a three-figure one. Prices start at $175 for a self-guided 90-minute circuit through baths with names that sound as if they were borrowed from an ancient Roman emperor’s extended family: Caldarium, Tepidarium, Palestra, Flotarium, Balneum and two Frigidariums (no Vomitorium, thankfully).

The baths cover the full spectrum: hot, warm and cold plunges; dense saltwater flotation; hydro-massages delivered through hundreds of jets; a steam room; a sauna; and an outdoor pool tucked in a courtyard. The overall environment is more monastic retreat than raucous bacchanalia. With strict silence and no-phone policies, it’s a no-go zone for rowdy bachelorette groups and ring-light-toting content creators.

The candlelit pools, the signature scent inspired by the orange trees of Seville, and the atmospheric playlists are identical whether you’re in the brand’s Toronto, Barcelona or New York spas. And all Aire locations occupy restored historic buildings. Toronto’s lives down the street from the Well in a 1912 publishing warehouse, its original bones now adorned with amphorae, carved wooden doors and sculptural elements. Each decorative touch was either sourced from a Spanish antique dealer or built as a custom replica: the stone bath used for the wine soak is a recreation of an ancient Andalusian fountain.

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To satisfy Toronto’s elbows-up instincts, the bathhouse has rolled out a local exclusive: the $380 Signature Boreal Forest Experience, a highly civilized take on cottage country—no blackflies, no sump pumps, no Airbnb guests blasting EDM from the next dock over. Instead, the 150-minute treatment layers a Canadian-salt exfoliation with a cedar-oil hot stone massage.

“Toronto is a really vibrant city—culturally quite sophisticated, with a lot of interest in well-being,” says Andrea Trillo, Aire’s global marketing director. Aire is betting that this combination will make Toronto a natural home for its brand of hushed indulgence—one that feels imported but not out of place.