
WALLA WALLA, Wash. — The two Duckhorn Portfolio brands in Washington state will continue to be led by a graduate of Walla Walla Community College’s vaunted winemaking program with Joseph Czarny replacing Brian Rudin as winemaker for the Canvasback and Greenwing labels.
However, Rudin won’t be leaving Walla Walla. He used social media on July 2 to announce that he has joined Echolands Winery, the young project launched by the affable Doug Frost, one of three in the world to earn both Master of Wine and Master Sommelier accreditation.
Czarny took over July 3, and Duckhorn describes him as Rudin’s “handpicked successor.”
“In many ways, Brian represented all of the things I love about making wine in Washington,” Czarny noted in a statement issued by Duckhorn. “His passion was infectious, he loved to teach and share information, and he embraced a collaborative approach as we explored the diversity of Washington wine together.”
This fall, Frost and Echolands co-owner Brad Bergman plan to crush the first grapes at the 27,000-square-foot production facility they are building on the 341-acre site they own along Mill Creek Road in the Blue Mountain foothills. Their neighborhood includes Abeja, Aluvé, Figgins and the pending Jackson Family Wines project for Walla Walla.
“After nine wonderful years at Canvasback Wines, I am departing to pursue some new dreams,” Rudin announced. “Making wine with Duckhorn Wine Company has been a rare gift — there is no other wine company like this in the world.”
Kansas City-based businessmen Frost and Bergman launched Echolands in 2018 with Taylor Oswald as their winemaker and acclaimed viticulturist Sadie Drury as vineyard manager. She oversees the Echolands 50-acre vineyard — Taggart — in the SeVein project near Milton-Freewater, Ore., as well as Seven Hills Vineyard. The Echolands 2022 Albus is a vineyard-designated Sauvignon Blanc/Sémillon blend off young Taggart.
Under their Walla Squared LLC, Bergman and Frost also have plans to plant at least 25 acres on the Mill Creek property, which reaches 1,800 feet in elevation.
Among Echoland’s early releases was a 2019 Grenache, and critical acclaim for that wine by Oswald included a spot on The Seattle Times Top 20 Northwest list for 2021. Oswald graduated from Whitman College prior to receiving a master’s in wine microbiology from Washington State University. Last year, Echolands opened a tasting room in downtown Walla Walla, and the new vinification facility will be scaled for production of 10,000 cases.
Czarny came to Canvasback as enologist for the 2018 crush. Two years later, he was promoted to assistant winemaker. His added duties will be collaborating with vineyard manager Dick Boushey on Longwinds Estate Vineyard — Duckhorn’s planting on Red Mountain. Among the mentors Czarny lists is Tim Donahue, the former winemaking instructor at WWCC. Czarny’s résumé includes Domaine Serene in Oregon’s Dundee Hills, Walla Walla wineries Forgeron Cellars and Revelry Vintners, Rooster Hill in New York’s Finger Lakes and overseas posts at Vidal Estate in New Zealand and Lambert Estate in Australia.
His wife, fellow College Cellars grad Kristina Czarny, is on the winemaking team for Precept.
Rudin not only winemaker, but also certified somm

Rudin graduated from East Wenatchee’s Eastmont High School in 1998 and matriculated to Western Washington University. Work as a server in Seattle’s restaurant scene inspired him first to become a sommelier and later a winemaker. The certified sommelier spent a year at storied Whitehouse-Crawford while taking enology and viticulture courses at Walla Walla CC.
Along the way, Rudin worked as an harvest intern at L’Ecole N° 41. Upon graduation in 2007, he spent time with Precept as production manager for a handful of brands. In 2008, Rudin began working for the Middleton family on their Cadaretta and Buried Cane brands. He became the founding winemaker of Canvasback for Duckhorn in 2014.
This past winter, Wine Business Monthly ranked The Duckhorn Portfolio as the 15th-largest wine company in the U.S. with a production of 2.1 million cases. The Duckhorn Portfolio was established in 1976 by Dan and Margaret Duckhorn. Based in the Napa Valley, the wine company has grown to include Decoy, Paraduxx, Goldeneye, Migration, Calera, Kosta Browne and Postmark among its 30 brands. Margaret Duckhorn died in 2022.
TSG Consumer Partners, a Bay Area private equity group that’s a member of the NASDAQ, took control of The Duckhorn Portfolio in 2016. Two years later, TSG acquired a minority interest in West Coast coffee chain Dutch Bros.
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