1979 Wine and Port Vintage
Vintage Summary and Recommendations: 
Welcome to Vintage Wine and Port's 1979 wine page. Read on for our summary of the 1979 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!
1979 was a year of mostly average-to-good wine produced throughout the world, with a few truly stand-out regions. Bordeaux suffered a large, overly tannic vintage but there still might be one or two surprises lurking there – you will have to look hard for them though. Burgundy, however, was a different story and enjoyed a good vintage. Champagne and Alsace were both good but the real star for France was the Rhône. For Italy, the wines of Tuscany were the best. The Port vintage was generally good, despite not many producers declaring, and there are almost guaranteed to be some good LBV wines drinking well. Any of these wines would make a fabulous 46 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: Board game Trivial Pursuit is launched.
Eurovision Winner: Israel with the song "Hallelujah" by Milk and Honey
Born in this Year: Jonny Wilkinson, Rugby Player, English rugby star who played fly-half for Toulon and England's national team. He wrote about the Six Nations tournaments and Rugby World Cups for The Times in 2011. He helped England win the Rugby World Cup in 2003.
Top Grossing Movie: Moonraker
Bordeaux: Initially overlooked in preference to the 1978 Vintage, 1979 was one of the very few cool years that produced a good vintage for Bordeaux. The wines were initially very tannic and acidic but after four decades of cellaring the wines have matured nicely and are now at their peak. They will remain so for years to come.
Italian: 1979 is a very good wine vintage. Good growing conditions particularly in Tuscany and Piedmont produced rich, full bodied wines.
Portugal: A Vintage Port from 1979 makes an excellent 44 year old wine gift for a 44th birthday or anniversary. Still drinking well, 1979 ports are part of a span of good vintages from 1977 to 1980. A very wet winter was followed by a dry hot summer and no rainfall from late June until 18th September. The crop was large and produced many quite good straight forward single-quinta wines that are now mature but will keep well for years.
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25 products found.
Grumello, 1979
Nera
Clearance Offer - Last Bottle | Was £79 | Now £35
Grumello wines are those made under the Valtellina Superiore, specifically from grapes grown in the named Grumello sub-region. Grumello is one of five viticultural sub-zones specifically identified as producing Valtellina wines of particularly high quality: the other four are Inferno, Sassella, Maroggia and Valgella.
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Price: £35.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Montepulciano, 1979
d'Abruzzo, Rosso della Quercia - Casa Canditella
Clearance Offer | Was £69 | Now £30
Offer Ends 30th August
Montepulciano is a red wine grape variety grown widely in central Italy, most notably its eastern Abruzzo, Marche and Molise regions. The variety was named after the Tuscan parish of Montepulciano, but, confusingly, is not used in the famous wines produced there (see Vino Nobile di Montepulciano). Globally appreciated for their soft flavors, strong color and gentle tannins, Montepulciano wines are typically best consumed in their youth and with food. The deep-purple juice of Montepulciano grapes is used in varying proportions to produce wines under roughly 50 of Italy's DOC and DOCG titles. Although sometimes used on its own, …
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Price: £30.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Montepulciano d'Abruzzo, 1979
Casal Thaulero
Special Offer | Was £79 | Now £35
Offer Ends 30th August
Montepulciano is a red wine grape variety grown widely in central Italy, most notably its eastern Abruzzo, Marche and Molise regions. The variety was named after the Tuscan parish of Montepulciano, but, confusingly, is not used in the famous wines produced there (see Vino Nobile di Montepulciano). Globally appreciated for their soft flavors, strong color and gentle tannins, Montepulciano wines are typically best consumed in their youth and with food. The deep-purple juice of Montepulciano grapes is used in varying proportions to produce wines under roughly 50 of Italy's DOC and DOCG titles. Although sometimes used on its own, …
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Price: £35.00
Stock: 2 in Stock
Nebbiolo D'Alba, 1979
Franco Francesco
The Nebbiolo has a lovely earthy bouquet. The nose has cherries, dark cherries, tar and slight dried rose notes. Complex and layered. Nice acidity. Medium tannins still present. Cherries on the palate too. Nice finish. Great food wine. Nebbiolo is a fickle grape famed as much for its pale appearance as for its tannic character and produces some of the most perfumed and richly flavored wines. Though generally only medium-bodied, the wines possess rose and anise scented aromatics and deep flavors of cherry, orange peel and subtle green herb tones.
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Price: £79.00
Stock: 2 in Stock
Refosco, 1979
dal Peduncolo, Ronchi di Manzano
Refosco is a very old Italian family of dark-skinned grape varieties native to the northern Italian and neighbouring areas of Friuli, Gavi, Trentino,Istria, and Karst Plateau.It is considered autochthonous in these regions. The wines this grape yields can be quite powerful and tannic, with a deep violet color and a slight bitterness. On the palate, there are strong currant, wild berry and plum flavors. The wine can stand some aging.
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Price: £69.00
Stock: 2 in Stock
Sangiovese di Romagna, 1979
F.lli Bartolini
Clearance Offer - Last Bottle | Was £79 | Now £35
Good-quality Sangiovese is prized for its high acid, firm tannins and balanced nature. Savory flavors of dark cherries and black stone fruit are characteristic, and may be backed by secondary notes of tomato leaf and dried herbs. The use of oak has become more popular and this coaxes richer flavors from the grapes, tending toward plum and wild raspberry.
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Price: £35.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Spanna, 1979
Dessilano Luigi
Spanna has often been cited by wine experts as one of Italy’s greatest ageing wines. Spanna’s longevity can be attributed, at least in part, to the addition of smaller amounts of less tannic, more acidic grape varieties. Tasting notes: The nose opens up beautifully after about an hour and the wine has gorgeous ripe and sweet fruit, nice acidity, and perfectly softened tannins.
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Price: £69.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Valtellina, 1979
Cantina San Carlo
Clearance Offer - Last Bottle | Was £69 | Now £32.90
Valtellina is one of Italy’s most dramatic wine regions, located in Lombardy, the vineyards are located on steep mountains. The principal grape variety is Chiavennasca (the local name for Piedmont’s Nebbiolo and an Italian grape varietal that has been cultivated since medieval times here). The DOCG wines are generally comprised of at least 90% Chiavennasca and then blended with other quality local grapes like Brugnola, Rossola, Pignola. Then there is a DOC Valtellina Rosso (also called Rosso di Valtellina DOC) which requires at least 80% of the blend be Chiavennasca and does not have minimum ageing requirements. …
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Price: £32.90
Stock: 1 in Stock
Kopke, 1979
Colheita Port
Includes Kopke presentation box
Gold Award- International Wine Challenge
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:
Intense amber coloured. Presents a complex and rich bouquet of aromas where stands out the dried fruits. On the taste it is distinct, balanced and harmonious. Tannins elegantly combined which persists in the delicious finish.
*Bottled in 2023
Colheita Port Storage and Serving Advice:
Colheita Port should be stored in a cool and dry place, …
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Price: £129.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Château Malartic-Lagravière, 1979
Graves Blanc
Clearance Offer | Old Branding Was £89
Now £30
Excluded from guarantee
A Rare Mature White Bordeaux
The 1979 Château Malartic-Lagravière Graves Blanc offers a fascinating opportunity to taste an aged white Bordeaux from one of the few classified estates in the Graves region. Known today for both its elegant reds and whites, Malartic-Lagravière has a long history of producing mineral-driven, structured wines that can age gracefully under the right conditions.
A Vintage with Classic Character
The 1979 vintage in Bordeaux was cooler and more traditional, yielding whites with bright acidity and delicate fruit rather than overt opulence. For Graves Blanc in particular, this vintage emphasized freshness and minerality over richness, allowing for the development of subtle tertiary aromas with long aging. …
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Price: £30.00
Stock: Out of Stock