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 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: 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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38 products found.
Nobile di Montepulciano, 1980
Sanguinetti - Riserva
Nobile di Montepulciano is a red wine with a Denominazione di Origine Controllata e Garantita status produced in the vineyards surrounding the town of Montepulciano, Italy. The wine is made primarily from the Sangiovese grape varietal (known locally as Prugnolo gentile) (minimum 70%), blended with Canaiolo Nero (10%–20%) and small amounts of other local varieties such as Mammolo. The wine is aged for 2 years (at least 1 year in oak barrels); three years if it is a riserva.
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Price: £79.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Recioto, 1980
Tommasi
1980 Recioto della Valpolicella – Tommasi (Veneto, Italy)
A rare, fully mature sweet red from air-dried Corvina, Rondinella & Molinara—silky, hedonistic and beautifully poised. Deep mahogany-garnet with a tawny rim. The nose is sumptuous and layered: amarena cherry, dried fig and plum, blood-orange peel, cocoa and espresso, with walnut brittle, sweet spice and a gentle balsamic/cedar lift. The palate is rich yet refined—candied cherry and date wrapped in dark chocolate and kirsch; acidity still bright, tannins melted to velvet. Long, warming finish of cacao, orange zest and spiced cherry.
Producer note: Tommasi is one of Valpolicella’s historic families, …
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Price: £149.00
Stock: 1 in Stock
Sizzano, 1980
Francesco Fontana
The wines Sizzano must be made from grapes coming from the following varieties: Nebbiolo (Span): 50-70%; Vespolina and Uva Rara (Bonarda Novarese) alone or in combination 30-50%. Colour: ruby red with garnet; Bouquet: vinous, typical, with hints of violet, fine and pleasant; Flavour: dry, full-bodied and harmonious with a slightly bitter aftertaste; Aging: "Sizzano": at least 22 months of which at least 18 in wood; "Sizzano Reserve": at least 34 months of which at least 24 in wood.
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Price: £69.00
Stock: 12 in Stock
Vei Cavour (Piemonte), 1980
Giordano
Aged red wine. Selected red grapes produce this lively and elegant wine with an intense red colour and subtle orange tones. Its soft velvety bouquet results from a period of maturation in Slavonian oak barrels, ensuring a full and rounded taste.
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Price: £69.00
Stock: 3 in Stock
Vin Santo, 1980
Frescobaldi
Vino Santo has been made in Tuscany since at least medieval times, and was probably named 'holy wine' because of its use during the Mass. Antinori has been making vinsanto for centuries. A dessert wine bright yellow in colour with amber hues. Generous, complex aromas with hints of honey and dried fruit. A well-structured, pleasantly sweet and lingering flavour.
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Price: £99.00
Stock: 11 in Stock
Blandys, 1980
Sercial
HALF BOTTLE 37.5cl
The 1980 Blandys Sercial Madeira is "Based on Sercial grown on the north west corner of the island at Seixal and Porto Moniz where I am told that this grape produces the most gentle fruit: lovely clean, lifted aromas, green fruit, apple peel with a touch of citrus; lovely fresh appley flavours with a hint of toffee and milk-chocolate, perhaps just a touch of salinity, steely acidity running all the way through, fresh and lithe on the finish, dry but not austerely so with 55g/l of residual sugar. Just 800 bottles in total."
Score: 18 Richard Mayson, richardmayson.com, January 2019
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Price: £119.00
Stock: Out of 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: 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.
Learn more about Graham’s
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Price: £119.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Madeira, 1980
di Savorgnana, Podere del Sole
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1980 Madeira – di Savorgnana, Podere del Sole (Madeira, Portugal)
A rare, fully mature vintage Madeira bottled for di Savorgnana / Podere del Sole, showing the island’s hallmark tension between luscious sweetness and tangy, sea-breeze freshness. Deep amber–mahogany with a burnished rim. The nose is gloriously complex: orange marmalade and candied peel, Medjool date and fig, toasted almond and walnut, caramel/treacle and brûlée crust, with classic rancio tones of varnished oak, iodine and salt toffee.
Silky yet electric on the palate. Layers of candied citrus, raisin and toffee are cut by rapier acidity; …
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Price: £89.95
Stock: Out of Stock
Rioja, 1980
Conde de la Salceda Gran Reserva
A rare and distinguished Gran Reserva from the 1980 vintage. This mature Rioja offers a classic bouquet of dried cherry, cedar, tobacco, and earthy spice, with a smooth palate showing mellow red fruit, leather, and balsamic warmth. Elegant and fully evolved, with a long, savoury finish.
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Price: £75.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Rioja, 1980
Berberana- Gran reserva- Rioja
Founded in 1877, Bodegas Berberana is one of Rioja’s oldest and most traditional houses, producing age-worthy wines with long barrel and bottle maturation. Gran Reserva bottlings are only made in strong vintages and spend several years in oak before release, built for decades of cellaring.
Tasting Note: Tawny-garnet in colour with a fading rim. Mature aromas of dried strawberry, leather, vanilla, cedar, and tobacco leaf. On the palate, smooth and resolved, with silky tannins, dried fruit, earthy spice, and a gentle balsamic edge. The finish is elegant, savoury, and long.
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Price: £59.95
Stock: Out of Stock
Taylor Fladgate, 1980
Vintage Port
Taylor Fladgate 1980 Vintage Port is a classic expression from one of the Douro’s most prestigious houses, produced in a year that yielded elegant, long-lived wines. Now with more than four decades of bottle age, the 1980 Taylor has developed into a beautifully mature Vintage Port, showing the finesse, structure and aromatic lift that define the house style. It is widely regarded as one of the standout wines of the vintage.
The nose is richly evolved yet wonderfully fresh, offering lifted aromas of dried blackberry, cherry liqueur, fig and plum. Layers of violets, cedar, cocoa and warm spice emerge with time, alongside subtle notes of eucalyptus—an unmistakable Taylor signature. …
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Price: £99.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Warre's Vintage Port, 1980
Vintage Port
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: £89.00
Stock: Out of Stock