Ha! I like where your head as it - think i might have to adopt that logic 
Drank few different 1980 CA June 2019 for my brothers birthday at Somni. Clear standout was the Joseph Phelps cab. Showed Amazingly good.
REALLY happy to hear that Saul, as i have a 3L kicking around for the right occasion (was thinking 40th but doubt we’ll be having peeps over at this point). Definitley excited to open that bad-boy up at some point!
This won’t be useful to the OP, but when we visited Chateauneuf in 1998, the Père Caboche cave in the center of town was pouring the 1980 Cuvée Elisabeth Chambellan and it was a beautifully aromatic, Burgundian styled wine.
I’ve never met a bottle of 1980 Beaucastel, but that might be a good bet if it could be found.
I was married in 1980 and my wife and I shared a bottle of 1980 La Landonne a few years ago. This is a tremendous bottle of wine. If you like Grange Hermitage, this is a good year. Very good year for Napa. 1980 Ponsot Clos de la Roche is a holy grail wine but VERY expensive.
Love hearing that! I have most of those but have not opened one yet. Would you say they’re ready to go, or ideally let em rest a little longer? Thanks!
The Dow is a beast. Needs more time. The Smith Woodhouse and Gould Campbell are also quite young. To drink now, I’d go with Warres and then Grahams.
What 1980s are still good today?
The best I’ve had recently are the Schafer Hillside Select and the Phelps Insignia.
Perfect! Thanks Eric!
I like your last suggestion, esp. with regard to the 78s. I liked the 1980 Diamond Creeks, but the 1978 was much superior IMHO.
More in Beaune than the Cote de Nuits, it’s a terribly underrated vintage. Leroy still offers a decent selection of red wines. It’s also a very underrated vintage for California Cabernet. Brutally tannic in their youth, the good bottlings are drinking great today. And don’t forget vintage Port - not the greatest vintage, but very affordable then and now -
Any luck with Chianti from 1980?