Hi everyone! My name is Sara Riobom and I am the blogger behind Portoalities,
your blog about Porto, where every week I answer your questions about Porto.
Today I am here at Jardim do Morro, enjoying this beautiful view over the Douro river and Ribeira,
to answer a question sent by José, from Italy. He asks: Why are Port wine cellars in... Gaia?!
It is a very relevant question.
If you think about the entire production process of Vinho do Porto, you will notice that this wine,
that brings Porto so much notoriety, actually never “sets a foot” in the city.
The wine is produced at the Douro Valley, a wine region demarcated in 1756 under the orders
of Marquês do Pombal, making it the first demarcated wine region in the world.
Then it is transported to Gaia, in ancient times by rabelo boats and nowadays by trucks,
where the Port wine ages in large wood barrels until it is bottled.
So, given the importance of the Port wine cellars, why are they located in Gaia and not in Porto?
Come with me, I will explain it to you!
Here I am at Gaia's cable car - a journey that I really enjoy doing, both because of the gradually descending
view over Porto on my right hand side, and the unusual view over the Port wine cellars on my left hand side.
The Port wine cellars are located in Gaia mainly due to political reasons.
In 1255, our king D. Afonso III established a royal town in Gaia,
which was later united with the town Villa Nova to create the current city called Vila Nova de Gaia.
He did it in an attempt to divert part of the maritime trade from the city of Porto to Gaia.
Porto was under the jurisdiction of the Catholic Church, which, through the bishop of Porto,
was entitled to charge the so called "Toll of the land", a heavy tax on all goods traded in Porto.
D. Afonso III, in an attempt to divert part of the profits to the Portuguese royal crown,
gave a royal document to Gaia, to make this town independent from Porto.
Naturally, Port wine traders, eager to escape the "Toll of the land", established their cellars in Gaia.
There are also other reasons. Gaia is a city in the Northern hemisphere facing North
which means it has a lower sun exposure. On the other hand, Gaia is more sheltered from the wind,
so this side of the Douro river has a fresher climate, ideal for the slow aging of Port wine.
I hope you enjoyed this first video of Portoalities! You can follow me on the social media - I am on Facebook,
Twitter and Instagram. Send me your questions about Porto, your photos or simply comment on my posts.
Make yourself comfortable at your Portoalities!
