The team became excited about the quality and character of the wines in Washington State.
Call: (509) 524-9820
Tasting Appointments: 10am - 4pm
Reservations Recommended
Canvasback
Canvasback was born in 2011, after Duckhorn Wine Company conducted an extensive blind tasting between Napa Valley and Washington State Cabernet Sauvignons. The team became excited about the quality and character of the wines in Washington State.
We began working with Vineyard Manager, Dick Boushey and cultivating relationships with the growers who farm some of the most esteemed vineyards in Red Mountain and Walla Walla Valley including Klipsun, Shaw, Quintessence, and Seven Hills Vineyard. Through these partnership, we release the inaugural vintage of Canvasback Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon in 2012.
Our program is terroir-focused and aims to capture the unique soils, microclimate and terrain of each vineyard we work with.
As the winemaker for Canvasback, Joseph Czarny guides the evolution of an acclaimed portfolio that began with Red Mountain Cabernet Sauvignon and has grown to include Cabernet Franc, Syrah, Merlot and Riesling from the most renowned AVAs in the Pacific Northwest. Having honed his craft working in wineries throughout the US, and in Australia and New Zealand, Joseph has developed an intimate, vineyard-focused approach to winemaking. Working collaboratively with legendary vineyard manager Dick Boushey and Canvasback’s grower partners, Joseph helps to guide Canvasback’s estate and its grower programs, with the goal of capturing the terroir-driven diversity of great Pacific Northwest winemaking.
Joseph was born and raised in Arizona and moved to Washington State in 2013 to study enology and viticulture at Walla Walla Community College. While earning his degree, Joseph was mentored by noted professors Sabrina Lueck and Tim Donahue, who encouraged him to further his education through international experience. For the next several years, Joseph alternated between northern- and southern-hemisphere harvests, gaining extensive hands-on winemaking experience at Forgeron Cellars in Walla Walla, Domaine Serene in Oregon, Vidal Estate in New Zealand, Lambert Estate in Australia, and Rooster Hill Vineyard in the Finger Lakes region of New York, where he served as associate winemaker.
After returning to Washington in 2018 with the goal of putting down roots in the community that first inspired his love of winemaking, Joseph joined Canvasback as a harvest intern and rapidly rose through the ranks from production assistant to enologist to assistant winemaker. Throughout this period, Joseph learned the Canvasback way working alongside acclaimed founding Winemaker Brian Rudin. “In many ways, Brian represented all of the things I love about making wine the Pacific Northwest,” says Joseph. “His passion was infectious, he loved to teach and share information, and he embraced a collaborative approach as we explored the diversity of this region together.”
As Brian’s handpicked successor at both Canvasback and its sister winery, Greenwing, Joseph continues a tradition of crafting dynamic, complex and compelling wines rooted in the vineyards and regions they come from. As part of this approach, Joseph focuses on harvesting each site at its ideal ripeness, developing techniques to tame the region’s robust tannins, and refining the cooperage program to elegantly showcase the natural beauty of the grapes.
Joseph lives in Walla Walla with his wife and young daughter, and enjoys woodworking in his spare time.