Unitil a decade ago, bottling and selling ancient wood-aged ports was not something the big British port houses often did. But in 2010, Taylor Fladgate released Scion, setting a precedent that Taylor and other houses have since followed.

But Taylor was not first in the door. That distinction belonged to Cristiano Van Zeller, the former owner of Quinta do Noval, who in the late 1990s unearthed some very old ports still in barrel at the Quinta do Sidrô. Located at the remote eastern end of the Douro near Taylor's Vargellas, this old estate was an important source of fruit for Sandeman's legendary late-19th century vintage ports.

One of the ports Cristiano discovered at Sidrô was from 1880. He described his first experience tasting it this way: “Huge nose with hints of walnut, almonds and oak, still amazingly fresh and clean with complex taste, well balanced, beautifully sweet and profound length of finish.”

Though the law has since been changed, at the time Portuguese regulations wouldn't allow the vintage to appear on the label. But Cristiano was undeterred. He went ahead and had the old port bottled by no less an expert than Dirk Niepoort. The year was 1999, so Cristiano labeled the wine the "Millennium Port," in honor of the new century that was just around the corner.

The ancient ports sold by the big houses are generally priced in the $3000 to $5000 range, including lavish mahogany boxes and crystal decanters. Though Cristiano's wine is far more modestly presented and priced, it offers much of the same breathtaking quality (as affirmed by average Cellartracker reviews of 96.6).