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.
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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34 products found.
Valtellina, 1979
Cantina San Carlo
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: $76.70 USD
Stock: 1 in Stock
Vino da Tavola, 1979
Cilento Rufino - Solopaca
Clearance Offer | was £49 | now £25
Red cherry red with ruby highlights. Fine and intense nose, with floral and fruity scents. The flavour is dry, fine and fruity with high acidity and a slight almond aftertaste.
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Price: $32.50 USD
Stock: 2 in Stock
Vino da Tavola, 1979
Az. Agraria F.lli Vallunga
Red cherry red with ruby highlights. Fine and intense nose, with floral and fruity scents. The flavour is dry, fine and fruity with high acidity and a slight almond aftertaste.
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Price: $63.70 USD
Stock: 2 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: $167.70 USD
Stock: Out of Stock
Barbaresco, 1979
Confratelli di San Michele - Vigneto Cottà
Clearance Offer - Last Bottle | Was £139 | Now £50
Barbaresco is one of the great wines of Italy's north-western Piedmont region. This aristocratic red has its vineyards situated in the Langhe, on the right-hand side of the Tanaro river and extending from the area north-east of Alba to the communes of Barbaresco, Neive and Treiso. The dominant variety grown is Nebbiolo, but Dolcetto and Barbera also play a part. The vines are generally grown on limestone-rich marl soils. similar to the Tortonium soils of the Barolo and La Morra areas in Barolo. Similar to its more famous sibling Barolo, Barbaresco is made from 100% Nebbiolo and shares its cult status as one of the finest wines in the world. …
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Price: $65.00 USD
Stock: Out of Stock
Barbera, 1979
Marchesi di Barolo
Clearance Offer | was £59 | now £28
Barbera is a wine of prestige, rich colors that refer generally to the ruby purple, just what clothes cardinals; the bouquet is ample and composite, with fruity notes of blackberry, cherry, strawberry and red fruit jam and spicy aromas reminiscent of cinnamon, vanilla, green pepper.
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Price: $36.40 USD
Stock: Out of Stock
Barolo, 1979
Fratelli Casetta
Clearance Offer | Damaged Label | was £139 | now £50
Barolo is known as the 'king of wines' and is made from the Nebbiolo grape. Heady aromas of rose, leather, vanilla, cherry, pepper, cranberry, strawberry. Fruits are perfectly knitted with the tannins and acidity. It's a powerful wine but remarkably subtle. Don't underestimate it and certainly serve it with food to show at it's best. Nebbiolo has naturally high tannins and acidity, so it will take on full-flavoured, rich foods no problem at all.
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Price: $65.00 USD
Stock: Out of Stock
Chianti, 1979
Santa Cristina - Antinori
Chianti, situated in Tuscany in central Italy, is home to probably the best-known and most iconic of all Italian wines. Chianti, Brunello di Montalcino and Vino Nobile di Montepulciano are primarily made with Sangiovese grape whereas the Vernaccia grape is the basis of the white Vernaccia di San Gimignano.
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Price: $102.70 USD
Stock: Out of Stock
Warre's Vintage Port, 1979
Quinta da Cavadinha
The 1979 Vintage Port from Warre's is seriously attractive. After 4 hours of decanting, it had opened up nicely with lots of fig-like fruits. The palate is rich and infused with age elements with a soft and rich fruit still well to the fore. The fruit is enjoying a late middle to early old age period. No need to drink up yet but age elements will begin to dominate from here on in. If you want fruit then drink now. A fine example of a well aged single-quinta port with a deft Warre's touch of assured wine making showing through the full fourty years from 1979.
Old vines make up a very high proportion of the vineyard, …
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Price: $193.70 USD
Stock: Out of Stock