A Lavish Treat

At $235 Spa Mio’s New Signature Massage is the crème de la crème of spa treatments. Offering relaxation and rejuvenation from head to toe, this new service is a customized pressure massage with Reflexology and Cranial techniques. It features a signature blend of Balance and Citrus Bliss doTERRA Essential Oils. And since we’re all about luxury, add-on a Warm Oil Scalp Massage to bring this treatment to the next level.

The Suite Life

At 2,400 square feet and with 270º views of the Las Vegas Valley, the Loft Suite is simply breathtaking. The architectural details are exquisite and the drop-down flat screen in the master bedroom is a welcomed added touch. Other cool features include the separate steam shower, freestanding spa tub, etched glass, a modern marble staircase, and the same mirror finished metal featured throughout the resort. It also has two living room areas, a wet bar, and a pop-up big screen and it’ll only cost you $1,500 per night.

Sips Worth Savoring

At $11,000 a bottle and rated at a perfect 100 points, Saint-Émilion, Château Ausone, Grand Cru Classé ‘A’ 2005 is a bottle worth savoring and saving! It is said this wine will no doubt be drinking well a century from now since Château Ausone continues to age after the first 50 years it is bottled. If you’re looking for a wine to truly wow, try  the 1982 Château Pétrus, Pomerol at a distinguished $14,900 per bottle. It is a bold and spicy wine, 95 percent  Merlot and 5 percent Cabernet Franc. An interesting side note, both the Saint-Émilion and Château Pétrus are from Bordeaux, France and the estates nearly border each other. At these prices, we’d be savoring every sip.

If you could live in pure luxury for one day, which of these would you choose? Let us know if there was something we missed!

Pinot Grigio

Our best and most affordable Pinot Grigio is by BENVOLIO™ from the Friuli region in Italy. It is one hundred percent Pinot Grigio and is vibrant on the palate with crisp notes of lemon and citrus fruit, balanced with a clean and refreshing finish. It is an outstanding drink before dinner or a terrific choice to pair with grilled chicken or risotto dishes and fish, including sushi. It is available by the glass in both Marinelli’s and the Hostile Grape, our award-winning wine bar. It’s also available by the bottle in both Marinelli’s and Anthony’s Prime Steak at just $38, which is almost unheard of in a fine dining restaurant.

Cabernet Sauvignon

Educated Guess Cabernet Sauvignon by Roots Run Deep Winery is rich, ripe, and focused with juicy blackberry and cherry fruit, cocoa and hints of mint tied together with a cream French vanilla middle and lingering finish. It is a full bodied wine with more concentrated fruit. It’s perfectly paired with lamb and at $44 a bottle at Anthony’s, Marinelli’s, the Hostile Grape, M Bar, and 32º Bar, it makes our Best Bang for your Buck Wines list. In addition, we have it available by the glass for just $12.

Chardonnay

A by Acacia Chardonnay from Carneros, California gets help from the Pacific Ocean winds for its flavorful notes. With your first taste, a bright acidity will mingle on the palate before turning rich and creamy on the finish. Crisp and clean citrus and tropical fruit notes are nicely balanced with buttery notes. Available at both of our fine dining restaurants, it pairs nicely with the King Salmon from Anthony’s or the Chicken Francese from Marinelli’s. At $35 a bottle and $9 a glass, it’s the perfect ending to our Best Bang for your Buck Wines list.

Have you tried any of these wines? Let us know your thoughts and if another affordable favorite should have made our list. And, just a reminder, when you purchase a bottle of wine from Anthony’s, Marinelli’s, or Hostile Grape, you’ll receive 1/3 off!

Pampering

Spa Mio, our award-winning four-star spa and salon, offers the perfect opportunity to provide mom with the spa day she’s always wanted but may have never asked for. With services like manicures, pedicures, massages and facials and packages for moms who are short-on-time, like The Mommy Express package, or for moms who would enjoy an entire spa day, like our Mio Relaxation Day package, Spa Mio has options to suit any budget and any mom. Plus, anytime you book a service at our spa, you also receive full access to our spa amenities for the day including the steam room and sauna. If you’re just not sure what she’d like, purchase a Spa Mio gift card and leave the choice up to her.

Dining

If you’ll be taking Mom out this Mother’s Day, relax to the soothing sounds of live piano while enjoying a delicious Italian brunch at Marinelli’s, our Italian restaurant. Presenting a three course brunch with choice of appetizer, entrée and White Chocolate Mousse with Raspberry Gelee for dessert, Marinelli’s will provide Mom with a taste of Italy at its finest. Ghalib Ghallab will add to this special day playing the piano all afternoon. For a special touch, request a song for Mom!

A Custom Gift

Now if your mom loves our resort (which we hope she does), we recommend creating a custom gift basket full of some of the best items our resort has to offer…after all, you could say “M” is for Mom…Fill it with a gift card to our resort, a wine card or better yet, a bottle of her favorite wine from the Hostile Grape, a sweet treat from Baby Cakes (they offer take home pints of gelato), Spa Mio candles (they are pure soy in scents like Love Spell and Green Tea) and maybe even bed sheets from Spa Mio (trust us, they are amazing!).

Do you have other ideas for pampering Mom at our resort? Or are you planning the perfect four-star Mother’s Day for your mom? We’d love to hear how you’re planning to pamper Mom – comment below!

Every night a different wine is featured from our Hostile Grape wine list. Even better, the complimentary wine tasting calendar is featured on our website so you can mark your calendar for something you’ve always wanted to try. Pair that with the sophisticated and intimate ambience Hostile Grape offers with its cool wooden wine cask decked ceiling and you’ve got a real wine bar in the truest sense.

Even when the tasting is over at 6 pm, the fun doesn’t stop. Our wine bar features 160 different wines by the glass and over 400 wines by the bottle for you to sip, sample, and swill. Plus, if you like modern gadgets, the Hostile Grape is one of only a few wine bars to feature the Enomatic wine dispensing system. Guests of the Hostile Grape can purchase a wine card, insert it into the machine, and continue their wine tasting adventure selecting one, three, or five ounce pours of varietals from around the world including Germany, France, Spain, and even New Zealand!

If a free sample of wine, more than 160 wines by the glass and an awesome atmosphere aren’t enough to get you down to the Hostile Grape the wine bar also offers live entertainment on Friday and Saturday nights starting at 7 pm. And the entertainment is as unique as the wine bar itself. You won’t find a bumping DJ down there and forget about having to yell at the person across from you. Instead it’s acoustic, soul, and intimate. The perfect spot to sip and enjoy something like the Pinot Noir featured tonight by Garnet from California.

We hope you’ll join us for our free wine tastings and if you can’t make it, we hope you’ll at least pop the cork on your favorite wine this weekend. Cheers!

Complimentary wine tastings featuring a select wine each day are offered inside the Hostile Grape from 5pm-6pm Wednesday-Saturday.

Photo Credit: Jerry Search

Now that she’s off the ice, you can find Erin in our wine cellar Hostile Grape. There’s always something new to try with our selection of over 160 wines available to be sampled by the glass. Gleason helps each guest navigate our vast wine selection with knowledge, passion and enthusiasm.  She enhances the overall experience by suggesting and providing individually tailored wine pairings to accompany any meal or palate.

A wine vineyard Gleason visited in Aquileia, Italy.

In addition to managing the Hostile Grape, Gleason oversees the entire resort’s wine storage, procurement, and wine cellar rotation. Her current personal favorite is Le Plus de la Fleur de Boüard 2005, a 100% Merlot wine from Bordeaux’s right bank, atop the coveted plateau of Pomerol and close to Saint-Emilion. Le Plus reveals itself in an Indian ink hue infused with purple tinges and rich nose of blackberry liqueur, port, baking spice, and milk chocolate fudge. The palate delivers an immense layer of seductive concentration across flavors of blackberry jam, vanilla, and hints of vintage port across an assertive finish. Le Plus delivers an exceptional wine that you are certain to enjoy!

Gleason at the Taj Mahal.

With over a decade of professional experience, Erin developed her business experience and wine stewardship internationally. She has traveled all around the world racking up more than one million miles in air travel and upwards of 600 nights in luxury four and five star hotels – Through these experiences, she understands first-hand the importance of delivering exceptional service and experiences to our guests.  Gleason is also fluent in Italian, having studied Italian Constitutional Law and International Marketing at the Università degli Studi di Genova in Genoa, Italy.

Gleason is a professional member of the Guild of Sommeliers, the International Sommelier Guild. She has also captured many of her experiences in her wine blog Swinging by the Vines. Stop in and visit Erin at Hostile Grape during your next time at M!  She’ll recommend the perfect wine for your evening!

The variety of wines and amazing performances will make for an unforgettable evening, but there are a few notable wineries you'll want to give your undivided attention. Hammond personally recommends stopping by the Norman Vineyard booth. "Jim Norman's Paso Robles group of wines will rock your face off and he is a certifiable entertaining genius."

If you're looking for a delicious, wacky paring, Hammond also suggests visiting Courtney Rich's booth from QuitWineing.com. Rich was involved in selecting perfect wine pairings and delectable food creations for the event. Her picks include: Sage Fried Chicken tenders with chipotle dipping sauce, Mini-Meatloaf Sandwiches with roasted tomato and griddled mozzarella, and Mashed Potato/Bacon Burger Mini’s and Mini Crab Cakes with chili mayo drizzle from Hash House A Go Go.

For more amazing creations, Whole Foods will be on site featuring artisan cheese from Beehive Cheeses out of Utah. Trust us; you'll never think of cheese the same way after trying some of these! To complete the selections with something sweet, Ethel M's will be on hand with a delicious assortment of chocolates, each paired with a particular wine and/or champagne.

Tickets for Wineucopia are priced at $45 (including taxes and fees) and are available at www.rocknrollwine.com or by calling Rock ‘n Roll Wine at 702.240.3066. Doors open at 7 p.m. Event will last until 11pm with the official after-party being held at Hostile Grape until 1am.

For my roasts, I marinate them for a day in a mixture of merlot, cabernet sauvignon, or any other dry red wine with thinly sliced onions, crushed garlic cloves, olive oil, salt and pepper prior to roasting. Sometimes, I will roast meat in the oven, in this marinade, basting it frequently. The baste can also be turned into a wine-based gravy by combining it with a little flour.

For my sweeter recipes, I like to use Shiraz. It can easily be incorporated into my cake, cupcake, and cookie dough recipes. I usually replace some of the liquids (like milk or water) with an equal portion of Shiraz, to give the dough a more robust flavor.

I like to add a tablespoon or two of sweet dessert wines or sweet tawny ports to my pancake syrup, warm slightly without boiling, and pour it over my pancakes or waffles. This one is probably not for kids, but delicious for adults!

Do you have some of your own favorite recipes for leftover wine? Share them with us below!

Enomatic systems are able to dispense wine directly from the bottle and use inert gas preservation to do so. With such technology, the flavors and characteristics of the wine remain intact, as if the bottle had just been opened. If you tasted a glass poured from our machines and one from a freshly uncorked bottle, chances are you wouldn't even be able to tell the difference.

Using Enomatic's portion control technology, our guests are able to sample wines at Hostile Grape by pours of one, three and five ounces. To choose your pour simply insert a pre-paid card into the machines and choose how many ounces you'd like to try. The wine is then instantly dispensed in a fountain-like flow right into your wine glass.

With the majority of our wine collection on display in the Enomatic Machines, we invite you to explore our selection yourself. Peruse our wine stock and personally select the wines you'd like to sample.

The spouts themselves go through an automatic self-cleaning after each pour, guaranteeing your glass is just as fresh and clean as the first.

There are five different selections of Marinelli's wine to choose from at our resort. If you visit Hostile Grape you can sample all of these wines (and 155 others) by the glass.

Sangiovese

Made from the classic Italian grape grown in the best areas of California, Marinelli's Sangiovese has ripe aromas of red and black raspberry with a touch of bread dough. The wine projects flavors of rhubarb, blackberry and spicy notes. Its finish is marked by sweet tannins, brandied cherries and almond biscotti. This Sangiovese is made with both punch cap fermentation in open tanks and closed tanks. Each lot is aged separately for 20 months in French and Eastern European Oak barrels.

Chardonnay

The Chardonnay from the Marinelli's wine label has notes of pineapple and honeysuckle. It's crisp, fresh and bright with citrus and green apple flavors and subtle oak notes. Marnielli's Chardonnay is a medium-full bodied wine, rich with excellent acid balance and firm texture. This wine is barrel fermented and aged for nine months in specially-made French oak barrels.

Pinot Grigio

This bright and crisp Pinot Grigio is dry with a rich fruit center. It's pressed directly to a stainless steel tank and is cold fermented for three months. It is then aged in stainless steel tanks before bottling. This particular wine on the Marinelli's label pairs perfectly with a wide range of cuisines.

Cabarnet Franc

The aromas of ripe plum, clove and hints of damp leaves come out immediately in Marinelli's Cabarnet Franc. Black currant and pungent clove flavors abound on the palate followed by sweet tobacco, cedar plank and a welcome shot of tannin on the smooth finish. The Cabarnet Franc is punch cap fermented and then balance fermented in stainless steel tanks using the pump-over process. It is aged for 18 months in a combination of old French and European cooperage.

Merlot

The Marinelli's Merlot has plum and blueberry on the nose, firm tannin, medium plus body, plum and blueberry on the palate and a touch of oak on the finish. It shows balance and richness with distinct Merlot flavors. It's fermented on the skins for eight days and aged for 22 months in French oak barrels.

You might see a few bottles here and there because we occasionally give some of our signature label out for gift days. Want to take part in our gift days? Simply sign up for an iMagine Rewards Card and you might be lucky enough to snag your own bottle in the future. Otherwise, you can also sample a glass or two at any of our restaurants.

We caught up with Sam Bennett, our wine guru and sommelier at Hostile Grape and had him share some of his summer wine selections with us.

“In the summer I always enjoy white still wines and especially sparkling wines. There is something very refreshing about Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling and champagne when the temperature heats up," said Bennett.

Honig Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley has always been one of his favorites for the warmer seasons.

"The gooseberry, melon and touch of grapefruit with crisp acidity is really refreshing. Monchhof 'Mosel Slate' Riesling-Spatlese from Germany is lower in alcohol than most still white wines and has a nice touch of sweetness. The aromas or fuzzy peaches and other stone fruits present in this Riesling also make it a huge crowd pleaser."

Although wines are not to be missed during the summer months, champagne always holds a special place for Bennett.

"Its effervescence (that’s bubbles if you don’t have a wine dictionary neary you!) and refreshing qualities make it perfect for pool time as well as patio time. Yeasty, bready, Brut Champagne is my favorite in the summertime."

For unique summer wines Bennett recommends 'Brachetto D'Acqui,' Banfi, "Rosa Regale."

"It is a sparkling wine that is a little closer to red wine than a rose that comes from the Piedmont region of Italy. It has a slight touch of sweetness and is really great when served chilled."

Summer wines available in Hostile Grape

• Honig, Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley
• Monchhof, Riesling-Spatlese from Germany
• Perrier Joet, Grand Brut, Champagne from France
• Cloudy Bay, Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand

Budget-friendly price point

• Monchhof, Riesling-Spatlese, from Germany $43
• Honig, Sauvignon Blanc from Napa Valley $35
• Perrier Jouet, Grand Brut, Champagne $75

Splurge price point

• Cloudy Bay, Sauvignon Blanc from New Zealand $70
• Illumination by Quintessa, Sauvignon Blanc $88
• Henriot, Brut, Cuvee de Enchanteleurs, Champagne 1995 $200

If you’re looking to sample any of these wines, the Honig, Sauvignon Blanc as well as the Monchhof, Riesling-Spatlese and Cloudy Bay, Sauvignon Blanc are available on Hostile Grape’s Enomatic machines in pours of one, three or five ounces.

It shouldn’t be forgotten that with our Happy Hour 24/7 Guarantee bottles of wine are a 1/3 off throughout the resort.

If a wine cocktail is more your style, Veloce offers a great selection of Sangria. For $10 you can get two glasses in the bar or lounge area of Veloce during Happy Hour.