1986 Wine and Port Vintage
Vintage Summary and Recommendations:
1986 Wine – 40 Year Old Anniversary Wines
Welcome to Vintage Wine & Port’s 1986 wine collection. Now entering peak maturity, the best wines from this vintage offer beautifully developed flavours, softened tannins and the complexity that comes with four decades of careful ageing. These characteristics make 1986 wines an excellent choice for a 40th anniversary or milestone birthday gift.
In key regions such as Portugal and Bordeaux, well-made wines from 1986 have matured gracefully, with Port in particular offering rich, ready-to-drink styles and Bordeaux showing classic structure and balance. Our selection focuses on bottles from trusted producers and well-stored cellars, ensuring each wine is drinking well today.
Our Recommended Wines from 1986
Scroll down to explore our full selection. If you would like personal advice, please call us on 01425 837177 or contact us — we would be delighted to help you choose the perfect bottle.
Top Recommendation: Kopke 1986 Colheita Port
A beautifully mature single harvest tawny Port offering exceptional balance, depth and drinkability. Fully aged and ready to enjoy now, making it the most reliable choice for a 40th anniversary gift.
Best Value: Rivesaltes 1986 L’Archiviste
A wonderfully mature fortified wine offering outstanding value, with rich flavours of dried fruits, caramel and spice developed through long ageing.
Premium White Port: Quevedo 1986 White Port
A rare and distinctive aged white Port with rich, honeyed complexity and remarkable depth. A unique and memorable gift option.
Classic Portuguese Red: Porta dos Cavaleiros 1986 (Dão)
A mature Portuguese red with soft tannins and developed character, offering a different expression of the vintage while remaining ready to drink.
Fine & Rare Bordeaux: Château Pichon Longueville Comtesse de Lalande 1986
A refined Pauillac Second Growth Bordeaux showing elegant structure, cedar and dark fruit notes
This Year in History: Fun Fact: Halley’s Comet appeared in the night sky, as it also did back in 1682, 1758, 1835, and 1910. Halley’s Comet orbits the sun every 75-76 years, and will not be seen again until 2062.
Eurovision Winner: Belgium with the song "J'aime La Vie" by Sandra Kim
Top Grossing Movie: Top Gun
Bordeaux: 1986 was a strong vintage in the northern Médoc, particularly in Pauillac and St Julien, producing structured wines that have now reached full maturity and are drinking well.
Read full Bordeaux vintage report
1986 was a great vintage for the wines produced in the northern part of Bordeaux (St Julien, Pauillac), where many estates produced deep, concentrated wines built for long ageing. What defines the 1986 vintage is its firm tannic structure, derived from well-ripened grapes that remained on the vine for extended periods before harvest. Now fully mature, these wines have softened and developed complexity, while retaining their classic character. Drinking well today, they make an excellent 40 year old wine gift for a birthday, anniversary or special celebration.
Italian: 1986 was a very good year for Italian wines, with consistent quality across key regions and some particularly fine Barolos from Piedmont. Now fully mature, these wines show developed character, softened tannins and layered complexity, and are drinking well today while still capable of ageing further.
Read full Italian vintage report
The wines produced in 1986 are generally well-balanced and have evolved gracefully over time. In Piedmont, Barolo from this vintage is especially noteworthy, offering structure, depth and classic ageing potential, with flavours of dried cherry, leather, spice and earthy notes emerging with age. Other regions also produced reliable wines, though Piedmont remains the standout. Now at full maturity, these wines display harmony and complexity, making them ideal for drinking today while still holding for a few more years.
Portugal: 1986 was a good year in Portugal, producing forward, fruit-driven Single Quinta Vintage Ports that have now reached full maturity and are drinking well. With no general declaration, wines from this year are relatively scarce, adding to their appeal as distinctive and increasingly rare bottles.
Read full Portugal vintage report
The Ports from 1986 are typically approachable and well-balanced, showing developed flavours of dried fruit, caramel and spice. Now at their peak, these wines offer immediate enjoyment without the need for further ageing. Tawny and Single Harvest (Colheita) Ports are particularly strong choices from this vintage, benefiting from extended cask ageing which enhances their smoothness, complexity and consistency. These styles offer a reliable and rewarding alternative to Vintage Port, making them ideal for a 40th birthday or anniversary gift.
36 products found.
Graham's
40 Year Old Tawny Port- New Edition
Decanter (DWWA 2025) Gold
Graham's 40 Year Old Tawny. A truly remarkable wine cared for across generations. A great testament to the arts of blending, cooperage, and ageing. Aged for an average of 40 years in seasoned oak casks, our 40 Year Old Tawny is a testament to time and patience. Composed of wines put aside generations ago, this is an incredible wine with an amazingly long finish, indicating both its age and immense quality.
Graham's 40 Years Old Tawny is made from wines of the very highest quality which, following careful selection, are matured in seasoned oak casks of until their peak of maturity is reached. …
more >>>
Price: £179.00
Stock: 9 in Stock
Porta dos Cavaleiros, 1986
Porta dos Cavaleiros, Dao
Porta dos Cavaleiros, 1986
Dão, Portugal
A mature Dão with that classic, old-school Portuguese elegance: more savoury than fruity now, with gentle tertiary character leading.
Expect aromas of dried cherry and plum skin, leather and cedar, plus notes of tobacco leaf, dried herbs and a touch of earthy mushroom.
On the palate it should be medium-bodied and nuanced rather than powerful, with softened tannins, fresh acidity (a Dão hallmark),
and flavours moving towards dried red fruits, tea leaf, spice, and a lightly mineral finish. With a 1986 like this, bottle variation is very possible,
so a careful opening and a little air can make all the difference. …
more >>>
Price: £69.00
Stock: 28 in Stock
Quinta do Poco do Lobo, 1986
Quinta Poço do Lobo - Cabernet, Bairrada
Quinta Poço do Lobo – Cabernet Sauvignon
Bairrada, Portugal
A distinctive Portuguese expression of Cabernet Sauvignon from Bairrada, showing a more restrained, Atlantic-influenced style than New World examples.
Aromas lean towards blackcurrant, dark cherry and plum, layered with cedar, graphite, dried herbs and a subtle earthy note.
The palate is structured and linear, with firm but well-integrated tannins and fresh acidity typical of the region. Dark fruit flavours are balanced by savoury notes of tobacco, spice and gentle oak, leading to a long, dry and composed finish.
Serving & Pairing
Serve at 16–18°C. …
more >>>
Price: £69.95
Stock: 31 in Stock
Sandeman
40 Year Old Tawny Port
***95 Points- GOLD Winner- IWC 2024***
***95 Points- Gold - Decanter 2024***
Comes in Original Gift Tube
The Sandeman 40 Year Old Tawny Port is a luxurious and complex aged tawny port, known for its exceptional depth and sophistication. This port is the result of meticulous blending and extended aging in oak casks, which imparts rich flavours and a smooth, refined character.
Tasting Notes
Deep amber with golden and greenish highlights, indicating a long aging process. Its aroma is intricate, with notes of dried fruits, toasted nuts, caramel, honey, spice, vanilla, and oak. The palate is remarkably smooth, rich, and full-bodied, with a harmonious blend of dried fruits, toffee, caramel, cinnamon, nutmeg, and citrus. …
more >>>
Price: £169.00
Stock: 9 in Stock
Cabernet, 1986
F.lli Pighin
1986 Cabernet – F.lli Pighin (Friuli, Italy)
A fully mature, old-school Friulian Cabernet (likely Sauvignon with a touch of Franc) showing savoury poise over power. Deep garnet shading to tawny at the rim; aromas of dried blackcurrant and cherry, cedar and pencil shavings, bay leaf, tobacco and leather, with hints of green peppercorn, cacao and dried herbs. Mid-weight and silken on the palate: lively, cool-climate acidity carries cassis, sour-cherry and chinotto notes; tannins are fine and resolved. The finish is long and tapering with cedar spice, graphite and a touch of cocoa.
Producer note: Fratelli Pighin farms gravelly, …
more >>>
Price: £69.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Chateau Haut-Bages Liberal, 1986
Pauillac 5th Growth Classification
Château Haut-Bages Libéral, 1986
Pauillac – Fifth Growth (5ème Grand Cru Classé), Bordeaux
The 1986 vintage in Bordeaux is remembered for producing structured, long-lived wines, particularly on the Left Bank. A warm summer followed by a fine, dry harvest allowed Cabernet Sauvignon to ripen slowly and fully, resulting in wines with firm tannins, excellent concentration and impressive ageing potential. Nearly four decades on, the best examples are now entering a rewarding stage of maturity.
Château Haut-Bages Libéral 1986 shows the classic character of Pauillac. The bouquet offers mature aromas of blackcurrant, cedarwood and tobacco, with secondary notes of leather, forest floor and subtle spice developed through long bottle ageing. …
more >>>
Price: £99.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Chateau Suduiraut, 1986
Premier Cru Classé, Sauternes Sweet white wine
1986 Château Suduiraut hails from one of Sauternes' most renowned Premier Cru Classé estates, nestled next to Château d’Yquem in the commune of Preignac. Known for its meticulous vineyard management and traditional vinification techniques, Suduiraut crafts wines dominated by Sémillon, blended with a touch of Sauvignon Blanc. The château’s wines typically display opulence, structure, and longevity—often showing vivid botrytis character thanks to the ideal misty autumn conditions near the Garonne and Ciron rivers. By the mid-1980s, Suduiraut was producing wines with a more classic, less opulent style than later decades, reflecting both the vintage and the winemaking direction at the time. …
more >>>
Price: £99.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Fonseca Port, 1986
Guimaraens Vintage Port
In undeclared vintages Fonseca bottle Guimaraens, provided the quality of the fruit is sufficient. This has a good depth of colour, with a moderate red-tawny hue. The nose has exotic notes of musky scent and spiced woods, together with some chocolate edged fruit. The palate has an impressive texture and sweetness immediately apparent on entry. Good fruit and a nice backbone of soft tannins. Elegant, with a touch of complexity, with balance, very much in the house style.
Learn more about Fonseca
more >>>
Price: £149.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Gigondas, 1986
Domaine du Cayron, Michel Faraud
This rare 1986 Gigondas from Domaine du Cayron, crafted by Michel Faraud, is a fine example of old-vine Southern Rhône winemaking. Domaine du Cayron, a historic family estate, is renowned for producing traditional, age-worthy Gigondas wines from Grenache, Syrah, Cinsault, and Mourvèdre grown on limestone and clay soils at the foot of the Dentelles de Montmirail.
Tasting Notes
Brick-garnet in colour with a tawny rim, this 1986 Gigondas opens with evolved aromas of dried red berries, leather, garrigue herbs, and cedar, alongside earthy notes of truffle and tobacco. The palate is medium-bodied, showing resolved tannins and flavours of dried cherry, spice, and savoury game. …
more >>>
Price: £69.95
Stock: Out of Stock
Sangre de Toro, 1986
Torres
Sangre de Toro DOC 1986 Torres is a red wine from Catalonia, Spain, produced by the renowned winery Torres, one of Spain’s most historic and influential wine estates. The 1986 vintage exemplifies the classic Sangre de Toro style: full-bodied, approachable, and elegant, with a remarkable balance of fruit, structure, and aging potential.
Tasting Notes:
The wine shows a deep ruby-red color with garnet hues along the rim, indicative of its age. The bouquet is rich and complex, revealing aromas of ripe red and black berries, dried cherries, and subtle hints of plum, complemented by tertiary notes of leather, cedar, tobacco, and gentle spice. …
more >>>
Price: £79.00
Stock: Out of Stock
Taylor Fladgate, 1986
Quinta de Terra Feita Vintage Port
1986 Taylor’s Quinta de Terra Feita Vintage Port
A mature single-quinta Vintage Port from one of Taylor’s most important Douro estates, the 1986 Quinta de Terra Feita now displays the elegance and complexity that develop with extended bottle ageing. Produced from grapes grown at the renowned Terra Feita vineyard in the Pinhão Valley, this wine reflects both the structure of the vintage and the classic Taylor style of refinement and longevity.
The bouquet is rich and expressive, with aromas of dried black fruits, fig, plum and cassis layered alongside notes of cedarwood, cocoa, tobacco leaf and sweet spice. …
more >>>
Price: £165.00
Stock: Out of Stock