I drink most whites within five years, but the 1998 Dover Canyon Winery Roussanne Chequera Vineyard in the Central Coast near Templeton, California made an ageable 13.8% alcohol white, costing under $25 that scored 16+ Dionysian Points  out of a possible 20.

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One of the top Rhone white grapes, where it’s almost always blended, this Roussanne stood alone and was a perfect food match. It aged well.

Served with nut-crusted white fish, fresh garden peas and sweet potato, the older complexities of mineral and citrus lingered. The wine was balanced with fruit and acids. This was a perfect example of bouquet, a term used for aged wines, as opposed to aroma, a term used to depict a new wines nose.  In vino veritas.

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I was impressed how well this wine had aged; I admit I was lucky even with a dark, damp and cool cellar.