The connection of Vila Nova de Gaia to the world of wines, particularly the unique and exceptional Port Wine, has been being internationally recognised for centuries. The perfect geographical and climate conditions to wine maturation in the immense warehouses validated, in the 19th century, the designation of “world’s biggest tavern”, by the famous Portuguese writer Camilo Castelo Branco. The fixation and investment of foreign tradesmen in the wine business dynamized, pairing with Portuguese skills, this source of income and Portuguese culture that still is the most cherished worldwide.
Gaia’s harbour life has always had great vivacity, registered in many documents and testimonies. Many businessmen, merchants, traders have settled down for national and international transactions. With the movement that grew along the centuries, Vila Nova Quay (Cais de Vila Nova) became an entrepôt of products from the interior of the country for local and regional consumption but also canalized to various international destinations.
Many of the warehouses that today still preserve its original structure, with brick arches and vaults under the pavement of upper floors, are buildings or reconstructions of the 17th and 18th centuries. At the turn of the millennium and until today, the area of Gaia Historic Centre and Port Wine Companies started to pay attention to Culture in a broader sense, reasserting themselves through History, having the concern of opening museums, interpretative nucleus, organizing events to satisfy Tourism. Almost all trademarks have since small museological nucleus to modern and internationally recognised interactive museums, some more focused in Portuguese inheritance, others in Foreigners role to the Wine Culture and business projection worldwide, all under the watchful eye of the Association of Port Wine Companies (Associação das Empresas do Vinho do Porto – AEVP) and Porto and Douro Wines Institute (Instituto dos Vinhos do Douro e do Porto – IVPDP).