Canvasback

In 2011, after conducting extensive blind tastings between Napa Valley and Washington Cabernet Sauvignons, the team at Duckhorn become extremely excited about the quality and character of the wines from Washington State — in particular the exceptional Cabernet Sauvignons from Red Mountain. Red Mountain is Washington’s smallest and warmest AVA, producing some of state’s most highly prized red wine grapes.

Working with legendary Washington vineyard manager Dick Boushey, they began cultivating relationships with the growers who farm some of the appellation’s most esteemed vineyards. Now a premier producer of Red Mountain wines, Canvasback follows the model established decades ago by Duckhorn in Napa Valley, and combines grapes from top growers with fruit from Canvasback’s own estate vineyard.

Longwinds Vineyard was planted in 2014 under the guidance of Winemaker Brian Rudin and Vineyard Manager Dick Boushey. A past “Grower of the Year” honoree by both the Washington Association of Wine Grape Growers and the Washington State Grape Society, Dick also worked closely with the Duckhorn team to select the site, which is situated just above Col Solare (the vineyard partnership between Tuscany’s Marchesi Antinori and Washington’s Ste. Michelle Wine Estates).

Longwinds features 13.5 acres of Cabernet Sauvignon and 4.5 acres of Merlot, with the Cabernet grown in the rockier, exposed soils at the top of the vineyard, and the Merlot grown near the bottom, where the soils have higher water-holding capacity. As an additional benefit of the region’s thin, pest-free soils, all of the vines at Longwinds Vineyard are own-rooted.