Vila Nova de Gaia

Vila Nova de Gaia is the city across the Douro from Porto, and it holds many of the cellars, known locally as caves, where port wine is stored and aged; they have become a major tourist attraction. From 1777 it was the official storage site for all wine and port wine exporters. Port is a fortified wine from the Douro Valley, its fermentation stopped early by adding grape spirit, usually at 19% to 22% alcohol. Ruby ports are younger, tawnies are aged in barrel much longer, often with an indicated age of 10 to 50 years, and only wines from Portugal may be labelled port in the EU and the United States.