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In 1679, a Newman's ship bound for London was driven far from its planned course by pirates and foul weather. As winter was closing fast upon them, the captain of the ship sought shelter in St. John's, and it was decided to remain in the harbour until spring. The ship's cargo of wine was stored in caves. 
When the ship returned to London, the flavour of the port seemed to have improved. After that discovery, Newman's sent its port to Newfoundland to mature in wine cellars there. The wine shipped from Newfoundland to England became very popular as a high quality wine in English pubs and amongst the aristocracy. The photograph below is of a mural showing the barquantine "Retriever" arriving in Newfoundland with a cargo of port wine in 1892. The mosaic mural is currently in the Newman's Wine Lodge, Portugal (photograph courtesy of Mr. Henry Collingwood of Baine Johnston & Co., Nfld agents for Newman's port).
The Newman's practice of sending large quantities of port to Newfoundland for maturing developed a busy trade between Oporto, St. John's and London. By the 1850s, the offices of Newman & Company at Burgeo, Gaultois and Harbour Breton were handling the fish trade, while the St. John's office operated the wine business.
The Newman Wine Vaults, located on the north side of Water Street just west of Springdale Street were most likely constructed in the late eighteenth or very early part of the nineteenth century. The earliest known printed reference to the Newman vaults is from a letter dated November 3, 1845, which reads:
"If the store over the Wine Vaults is decidedly unsafe it must be taken down, and the roof of the Wine Vaults secured in the most economical manner. But the store had better not be put up any where else until we have finally determined to lay out the ground."'
Two other letters from July and August of the following year refer to the wine vaults in relation to the "New House," to be built "with the brick against the wine cellar." This "New House" is the Newman Building on the corner of Springdale and Water Street, currently home to the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council. This building was most likely constructed between 1847 and 1848, and was designed by a prominent St. John's architect (possibly James Purcell, Patrick Kough, or Gilbert Browning), and was built for Mr. Morey, the Newman agent in St. John's. Later it served as the residence of Mr. Lewis Tessier, a local merchant and member of the legislature for over twenty years.
As it presently stands, the Newman Wine Vaults consists of two large rooms running parallel to Water Street. Stone was used as the basic building material with lime mortar made from seashells. The vaults themselves are constructed of stone and fired red brick. The bricks are tapered to fit the curve of the vaults, with the headers always facing the floor, and are bound with lime mortar, although some cement was used during repairs on the building circa 1947. Each room is slightly over 11' wide, with the vaults reaching an average height of 10'5". The Vaults are currently enclosed by a 20th century structure of rubble stone and hydrostone block.
The Vaults were used by Newman's until at least 1893, and as late as 1914. After that time, they were let to a variety of tenants, including a tobacconist in 1919. The Board of Liquor Control used the Vaults from 1937 to 1957. They were vacated around 1966.
The historic and architectural importance of the Newman Wine Vaults was recognized when they were acquired by the Province of Newfoundland and Labrador in 1972 and designated a Provincial Historic Site on August 13, 1974. The Vaults were further designated as a Registered Heritage Structure by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador on May 10, 1997.
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