1980 Wine and Port Vintage
Vintage Summary and Recommendations:
Welcome to Vintage Wine and Port's 1980 wine page. Read on for our summary of the 1980 vintage, our top recommendations and region reports. Scroll down to see all of our wines currently available. If you cannot find what you are looking for please call us on 01425 837177 or Contact Us. We would love to help you with your wine choice!
The 1980 vintage was not a great one overall, with few hits across the wine world and even then it never quite went above being strictly average. The biggest disappointments lay in the Old World, particularly in the French regions of Bordeaux, Burgundy and Champagne, which saw very few great wines produced. Although some good Rhône Valley, Spanish and Port wines were made. Any of these wines would make a fabulous 45 year old wine gift for an Anniversary or birthday.
Our Wine Expert currently recommends the following wines for this year:
This Year in History: Fun Fact: Tennis player Venus Williams was born.
Eurovision Winner: Ireland with the song "What's Another Year" by Johnny Logan
Top Grossing Movie: Star Wars Ep. V: The Empire Strikes Back
Bordeaux: The 1980 wine vintage produced wines of variable quality from Bordeaux. A very wet, cool year resulted in wines that were light and diluted. Nevertheless, some producers who operated a strict selection policy still managed to produce acceptable wines.
Champagne: In Champagne, the 1980 is an exceptionally fine, rich vintage.
Italian: 1980 for Italian wines was a very good year. The wines are generally quite consistent and there are some great Barolo wines from Piedmont. The wines have reached full maturity but will last for a few more years.
Portugal: The 1980 Port vintage is rated as outstanding and was generally declared vintage. Over time the 1980 Ports have been hugely under-rated book-ended by the great 1977 and large abundant 1983 and 1985 vintages. This vintage is ready now but will continue to develop and keep for decades, making them the perfect wine gift for a birthday or anniversary. An unusually early spring was followed by an extremely dry growing season and sugar readings were on the low side when picking began a week or so later than normal, at the end of September.
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9 products found.
Messias, 1980
Colheita Port, Douro
The 1980 Messias Colheita port is well-regarded for its balanced sweetness and complex profile, making it a great choice for those who enjoy tawny and colheita style ports.
Tasting notes:
Pale Tawny wine, with personalized aromatic evolution, with well defined tertiary aromas, enhancing a noble wood with vanillas, good and elegant presence of the “Vinagrinho”, noble volatile acidity, and spices, mild notes of pepper and clove with a slight nutmeg touch. At taste is powerful and fresh revealing well its age, delighting us with its long after taste.
Serving & Food Pairing
Colheita Ports are ready-to drink and do not require decanting. …
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Price: £119.00
Stock: 39 in Stock
Quinta Das Carvalhas, 1980
Colheita Port | Includes Presentation Gift Tube
95 Points - Wine Spectator
The 1980 Quinta das Carvalhas Colheita Port is a rare and exquisite wine, offering a rich taste of history. Perfect for special occasions and celebrations, especially those that call for a vintage wine. It makes an excellent gift for anniversaries, birthdays, or as a collector's item.
Tasting Notes
Deep amber in colour, classic for its age. On the nose, reveals immense aromatic intensity, with notes of bitter almond, toasted nuts and raisins, beautifully complexed with hints of old oak and caramel. On the palate, the wine’s age adds a complex, slightly oxidative quality that is both unique and intriguing, yet with the intensity driven by age and the acidity that creates a long, lasting finish. …
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Price: £129.00
Stock: 25 in Stock
Fonseca Port, 1980
Vintage Port
The Fonseca 1980 Vintage Port is a distinguished wine from a vintage that, while not as widely celebrated as some others, has matured gracefully over the decades. Fonseca, renowned for its rich and opulent style, produced a Port in 1980 that offers a unique tasting experience, reflecting both the house's signature characteristics and the nuances of the vintage year.
In the glass, the 1980 Fonseca displays a pale garnet hue, indicative of its age. The nose is aromatic, with notes of herbs, lavender, and strawberry syrup. On the palate, it presents flavors of redcurrants, raisins, and a spicy mid-palate, culminating in a sweet aftertaste dominated by Seville orange marmalade and a hint of bitter coffee. …
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Price: £119.00
Stock: 3 in Stock
Ramos Pinto, 1980
Vintage Port
A 1980 Ramos Pinto Port is also likely to be a fantastic choice. The 1980 vintage is highly regarded for port wines, and Ramos Pinto is a respected producer, so you're probably in for a treat.
Vintage ports from 1980 often display intense flavors of dark fruits, such as blackberry, plum, and cherry, along with notes of chocolate, spices, and sometimes even a hint of tobacco. These wines typically have a velvety texture and a long, satisfying finish.
A 1980 Ramos Pinto Port would be perfect for sipping on its own after a meal or paired with rich desserts like chocolate truffles or a flourless chocolate cake. …
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Price: £129.00
Stock: 5 in Stock
Kopke, 1980
Colheita Port
Kopke Port is the oldest port house. Established in 1638 by Nicolau Kopke and his son Cristiano, who came to Portugal as representatives of the Hanseatic League, the House has been run through the generations by several representatives of the Kopke family, obtaining an excellent reputation for its wines.
Review:
With amber colour and golden hints this wine has an intense bouquet, dominated by the remarkable presence of the dried fruits with a refined touch of spices. In the mouth it is concentrated, firm and elegant. This wine of great deepness and with a noble character has an impressive and persistent finish. …
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Price: £99.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Dow's, 1980
Vintage Port
HALF bottle format
The 1980 Dows Vintage Port has a very dark red/black centre, dark red to brown rim. On the nose there are creamy, blackberries and black cherries, slightly herbal notes (good), smoke and wet stone, sweet. The Dow 1980 has a very complex palate, maturity, red currants and black cherries, herbs and smoked meats, in the middle acidity and tannin (still!), great length - 60 seconds plus of blackberries and plums. This is an extraordinary Dow.
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Price: £59.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Dow's, 1980
Vintage Port
Approachable now, but capable of further positive evolution, the 1980 is lush and supple, with abundant chocolate and dried-spice flavors and a long, warming finish. Drink now-2025
Roger Voss , Wine Enthusiast
01/03/2008
This is the outstanding Port of the vintage. A real wood-fire nose. Fruity cassis. Medium weight with a lovely gummy finish...it is so easy to drink it slips down imperceptibly.
Serena Sutcliffe , CUISINE & WINE ASIA 2008 VOLUME 12
01/01/2008
Drink now to 2025
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Price: £69.95
Stock: Out of Stock
Graham's Port, 1980
Vintage Port
Purple fading to red and finally pink at the rim. Rich blackberries on the nose along with very faint stewed strawberries. The tannins were powerful on Christmas day but mellowed some by the next evening. The blackberries carried through as a prominent flavor, but added a sourish note almost like a sour cherry. The finish starts out with a rich butter cookie note, but then quickly switches to grape stem.
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Price: £119.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Warre's Vintage Port, 1980
Vintage Port
Please note that these bottles are Library stock from Warre's cellars in Oporto and have perfect provenance.
An outstanding 30 year old port just reaching full maturity. Reviews: Wine Spectator, October 1988 “Excellent Port from an overlooked vintage”. Malcolm Gluck, The Guardian, 23rd December 1995 “Overwhelmingly fruity and flowing. Beautiful, round and smooth. Quite exceptional”. WINE, December 2001 93 Points “The best colour thus far with a rich peppery nose and a meaty, complex long finish. Excellent”. Michael Broadbent, Vintage Wine, Published 2002 Four Stars (Very Good) “Best wine of the evening…Still very deep; fragrant; extraordinarily dense, figgy flavour and impressive, very dry finish”. …
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Price: £119.00
Stock: Out of Stock