Ribadavia (from the Latin ripa Aviae, "bank of the Avia") sits on the right bank of the Miño, precisely where the Avia flows into it. Capital of the comarca of O Ribeiro in the province of Ourense, it has served as the commercial and administrative heart of Galicia's most famous wine region for nearly a thousand years.

Sheltered by mountains that create a warm microclimate far warmer and drier than the Atlantic coast, Ribadavia's position at the confluence of two rivers made it a natural site for settlement and agriculture from the earliest times. The town's medieval core, perched above the riverbanks, preserves one of the most remarkable urban landscapes in all of Galicia.

In 1065, King Fernando I of León divided his lands among his three sons. The youngest, Garcia II, received the Kingdom of Galicia — encompassing what would become both Galicia and Portugal. Garcia chose Ribadavia as his capital and styled himself "King of Galicia and Portugal," becoming the first monarch to use the title "King of Portugal." This brief but pivotal reign (1065-1071) transformed a riverside settlement into a royal seat. Garcia II was himself a descendant of Ordoño II and Elvira Menéndez through the Leonese royal line — Elvira being the daughter of Count Hermenegildo Gutiérrez, traditional ancestor of the Casa de Sande.

Though Garcia's reign ended when his brothers Alfonso VI and Sancho II imprisoned him, the town's time as a royal capital sparked its growth. Ribadavia received its founding charter (fuero) around 1065, establishing it as a formal municipality. Historians traditionally date the first Jewish settlement in Ribadavia to this period, drawn by the opportunities of the royal court and the expanding town — though no municipal documents survive to confirm this, and the earliest recorded mention of Jews in Ribadavia dates to 1386. Jewish communities were already present in the broader region: documents from the nearby Monastery of San Salvador de Celanova archives record Jewish merchants under noble protection as early as 1044. The founding charter laid the foundations for what would become one of medieval Iberia's most prosperous commercial centres.

Ribadavia's Jewish quarter is the most important and best-preserved in all of Galicia, and one of the most significant in Spain. The town is a member of the Red de Juderías de España (Network of Jewish Quarters of Spain), part of the Caminos de Sefarad route. By 1386, approximately half of Ribadavia's population was Jewish — around 1,500 inhabitants — making it one of the largest Jewish communities in Iberia.

The judería extended from the Plaza Mayor to the medieval wall, centred on the Rúa da Xudería. The Plaza da Magdalena was another centre of Hebrew life, where the main synagogue was located. The houses of the quarter were integrated production facilities: ground-floor bodegas for winemaking with arcaded storefronts opening directly onto the street for retail. The Jewish community virtually monopolised the Ribeiro wine trade, leveraging diaspora networks to export wine across Europe.

In 1386, John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, invaded Galicia claiming the Castilian throne. Most of the region submitted without resistance — but not Ribadavia. Over 2,000 English spearmen and archers besieged the town, and according to Froissart's Chronicles, Christians and Jews fought side by side to defend the walls. The English finally breached the defences using a spectacular siege tower on wheels. After taking the town they plundered it savagely, targeting the Jewish quarter in particular — Froissart recorded "great plunder of gold and silver from the houses of the Jews." This account is, remarkably, the first written record of the Jewish community in Ribadavia.

Ribadavia's skyline is defined by its medieval churches. The Church and Convent of Santo Domingo, built in the 13th-14th centuries in Gothic architecture, was the second convent of the Dominican Order in Galicia. From 1299 it functioned as a house of studies for Theology, Morals, and Grammar. Declared a National Monument in 1931, it is considered one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Galicia.

The Church of San Xoán, erected in the 12th century in Romanesque architecture, was under the jurisdiction of the Knights Hospitaller, who cared for pilgrims travelling to Santiago de Compostela. The Church of Santiago, a late Romanesque structure, is notable for its spectacular doorway. The Convent of San Francisco, completed in 1610, became the third most important Franciscan community in Galicia by 1818.

After the destruction of the Jewish merchant networks, Ribadavia entered a long decline. Economic stagnation, competition from other wine regions, and rural poverty led to vineyard abandonment and mass emigration. On March 4, 1881, the railway station of Ribadavia was inaugurated on the Vigo-Ourense line, connecting the town to modernity, but it could not reverse the tide of decline.

The devastating phylloxera plague reached the Ribeiro around 1882-1886, destroying virtually all vineyards. Recovery was slow: many replanted with inferior Palomino grapes instead of traditional varieties. Over 80% of historic terraces were abandoned. The D.O. Ribeiro was officially established in 1957, but the true transformation came in the 1980s-1990s when pioneer winemakers began recovering indigenous grape varieties like Treixadura, restoring Ribeiro's reputation for quality.