Entering the Hotel du Vin Glasgow is like stepping into an elegant maze. Originally five Victorian town houses that have since been connected and developed into Hotel du Vin’s flagship property, walking through the hotel creates an exciting labyrinthine effect. Moving up and down levels and around corners, one leaves the spacious lobby and enters the Bistro Bar for a cocktail or afternoon tea, or slips into the subtly labeled Whisky Snug down the hall for a sample from one of the hotel’s exclusive single-cask bottles care of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Doors in the lobby open out into a secret garden where a walk down the garden path brings visitors to a stylish cigar shack. Entering one doorway, one comes across a gorgeous stained glass window, part of which was commissioned by famous collector William Burrell in the 1890s.

The Bistro itself is not to be missed. Offering classic Scottish cuisine with a modern twist, it draws on local ingredients while creating some truly inventive flavors. The Bistro’s oak-paneled space can fit 78 guests and is available for both guests and non-guests (much to the delight of locals).

But perhaps the most special thing about Hotel Du Vin is its bedrooms. Its 49 spaces include two spacious Standards, 15 Classic Suites, and two Town House Suites, among several other categories all the way up to the massive Mews Suite, which can sleep up to eight. As with the rest of the hotel, the rooms boast a classic contemporary style, featuring roll-top baths, four-poster beds and open fireplaces (by request).

Smaller details, like decorative hat boxes on top of the closets, framed vintage photographs and a golf putter set in every room, enhance the feeling of classic luxury. The Hotel du Vin’s splendor comes with a richly satisfying sense of history.

Part of this may be that the hotel has evolved significantly over time, first occupying just the first two houses on the block, under the name of its iconic address, 1 Devonshire Gardens. It expanded to the third house, then took over the fifth house as Hotel Du Vin took on ownership of the property, until finally just one flat in house number four was left occupied. When the occupant finally departed, Hotel Du Vin bought it and completed the connection between all five houses in early 2007.

I was fortunate enough to stay in one of the rooms with a skylight (also available by request), and was amazed at how pleasant it was to wake up with sun streaming through the roof of the suite. The bathrooms are vast, luxurious spaces in their own right, with fluffy bathrobes and HdV bathroom products created exclusively for the hotel by Arran Aromatics.

True to its name, the Hotel Du Vin makes wine a central part of its culinary offerings. Whether at dinner or to enjoy in the room, guests can choose from more than 600 bins of the hotel’s carefully curated wine list. Better yet, they can pop down to the wine cellar themselves to sample some of the bottles with guidance from a sommelier (as with many places in this expansive hotel, finding the staircase leading down to the cellar may require some help from the staff).

The prices of the wine are reasonable, making a bottle from the hotel’s collection an excellent gift or souvenir. A complex and supremely satisfying vintage might be the most appropriate to remember the Hotel du Vin Glasgow by.

-Alex Palmer

Hotel du Vin Glasgow 1 Devonshire Gardens Glasgow, Scotland G12 OUX 0141 339 2001