A remarkable collaboration between the prestigious luxury brand Dior and the renowned Château d’Yquem winery has emerged, creating a unique skincare line that promises to enhance your complexion using innovative technology.

For years, the fusion of wine and beauty products has been explored, especially in France, where several brands incorporate wine grapes into skincare formulations. Notably, Caudalie has been at the forefront for three decades, utilizing grapes from the vineyards owned by its founder’s family in Bordeaux. Additionally, Brad Pitt’s skincare venture, Beau Domaine, also harnesses ingredients from vineyards in Provence.

What sets Dior’s L’Or de Vie line apart is the esteemed quality and heritage of the Château d’Yquem vines, along with the distinctive properties of the Sauternes grapes, known for their skin-nourishing benefits. This is not just any wine; Château d’Yquem wines have been sold for astonishing prices, with a record £75,000 for an 1811 vintage bottle in 2011.

Virginie Couturaud, the scientific communications director at Dior, explains, “Yquem wine is one of the rare wines that ages without getting older,” a testament to the vineyard’s unique terroir which facilitates the growth of Botrytis cinerea, also known as “noble rot.” This fungus, considered a flaw in winemaking elsewhere, enhances the wine’s signature sweetness at Yquem.

This remarkable quality prompted Dior to research potential anti-aging benefits of the grape, which led to the discovery of what they term the Protein of Life, fundamental to the creation of their Golden Drop technology used in the L’Or de Vie range.

The protein superoxide dismutase (SOD) is derived from sauvignon vine shoots, undergoing a meticulous 17-step chemical process over a span of six months. This potent extract is said to be four times more effective than resveratrol, a popular antioxidant found in vine-based cosmetics.

The second component of the Golden Drop technology is the Golden Ferment, derived from the noble rot grapes. The line includes five skincare formulas that took over 2,000 hours to develop, merging luxury with efficacy. Clinical trials have demonstrated that Le Sérum, a silky product known for its delightful fragrance, significantly enhances skin firmness and smoothness in just one month of use. Meanwhile, La Crème, rich and creamy, aims to enhance radiance and refine skin texture.

This collaboration, which some might view as merely a marketing ploy of two luxury brands, has instead yielded a scientifically-backed collection that could offer notable anti-aging benefits.

Could skincare derived from wine effectively fight the damaging effects of alcohol? It appears there’s merit in raising a toast to this innovation.

Explore the Dior L’Or de Vie skincare, with prices starting from £560 (Le Sérum at £1,400 and La Crème at £1,400).