Best Buy! A number of historic family-owned Columbia Valley wine companies allow employees to launch their own brand. Casu Wines is a new project of Andrew Kowalski and John Sandoval, employed in Prosser, Wash., by the Lawrence family and on the winemaking team helmed by award-winning Matías Kúsulas. For their debut rosé, Kowalski and Sandoval work with Merlot from Lawrence-owned Desert Wind Vineyard, and it’s another example that thoughtfully produced rosés and whites routinely gain complexity and appeal a handful of years beyond their vintage. Aromas of grapefruit sprinkled with powdered sugar pick up cantaloupe, dried peach and a nice rub of leafiness. There’s a reward of peach on the entry, a spoonful of cantaloupe flesh for midpalate roundness and squirt of fresh-squeezed orange juice in the finish. Kowalski, Sandoval and their other partner — Vegas-based marketing expert Eric Gava – are closing in on their retail license and retooling their website, so follow them on Facebook or Instagram for pop-up pourings throughout Washington state.
Rating: 90 points — Excellent
Production: 120 cases
Alcohol: 13.5%
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