Two paths, one company.
GAPO was born of the meeting of two paths. Gonçalo Vicente coordinated the exports of a group of Portuguese producers who were approaching foreign markets in partnership. Paulo Mendes, an emigrant in Switzerland and a businessman in wine importation, returned to Portugal in 2014 to join Gonçalo. From that alliance — birthplace, a shared passion for wine, the same way of choosing a bottle — GAPO was born.
Twelve years on, GAPO serves clients all over the world.
The three principles
- I
Taste before talk.
No wine enters the portfolio by the conversation. It enters by the glass.
- II
Territory follows the wine.
Today, Vinho Verde, Douro and Alentejo. Tomorrow, wherever a vineyard deserves a bottle of ours.
- III
Time matters.
We work with the same producers for years. We defend the same wines at tables around the world. Continuity is a value.
Twelve years in twelve lines
- 2010sGonçalo Vicente coordinates the exports of a group of Portuguese producers who approach foreign markets in partnership.
- 2013Paulo Mendes, an emigrant in Switzerland with his own wine import business, meets Gonçalo around this group. The relationship begins there.
- 2014Paulo returns to Portugal, to his birthplace. He joins Gonçalo. GAPO is born, in Aveiro.
- 2016First consistent exports — French-speaking markets through Paulo, English-speaking through Gonçalo.
- 2019Entre Xistos, from the Douro, joins the portfolio.
- 2021Babilónia · expansion into Minho Vinho Verde.
- 2024Portfolio in about a dozen markets — France, Germany, United Kingdom, Poland, Switzerland, Canada, USA, among others.
- 2026Twelve years. New identity and gapo.pt — this site.