Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Ring Out (Final Offer of 2018), 12/22/2018

  (Full Pull & Friends CVSIP (FPF-26)) Hello friends. This is our final offer of 2018. We’ll plan to stay out of your inboxes until January 6, when you can expect our first offer of 2019. In the meantime, after our open hours today (Saturday; 11am-7pm) we are CLOSED for pickups for the next few weeks, and our first TPU pickup day in 2019 will be Thursday January 10. Today’s offer will include reorder links for a handful of our well-loved in-house wines – three from the Block Wines line, four from Full Pull & Friends, and one from Starside – but first, we’ll do what we’ve done every year since 2009: excerpt Tennyson’s In Memoriam. Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky, The flying cloud, the frosty light; The year is dying in the night; Ring out, wild bells, and let him die. Ring out the old, ring in the new, Ring, happy bells, across the snow: The year is going, let him go; Ring out the false, ring in the true. Ring out the grief that saps the mind, For those that here we see no more, Ring out the feud of rich and poor, Ring in redress to all mankind. I have always loved quoting those stanzas, the way they speak to the cleansing grace of the end of a year. But this year is complicated. My father died, suddenly and unexpectedly, on December 3 (here is a remembrance I wrote soon after). And while I would normally be inclined to keep family matters like this private, that doesn’t seem appropriate for my dad, who had become interwoven with Full Pull over the past few years. He loved working the tasting bar on Thursdays and telling stories. (Some of them were even true.) He loved Full Pull, loved our team, and really loved our list members. So in addition to the thanks I would normally give to you all, for all the support you’ve given to Full Pull in 2018, I also want to say thank you for enlivening and enriching the last years of my dad’s life. We'll be doing a small ceremony at Full Pull in late January to celebrate my father's life. If any of you are interested in attending, please just reply to this email and let me know, and I'll send along details when we have them. Ring out the grief that saps the mind for those that here we see no more. I’m trying. Moving to happier topics, this was a wonderful year for Full Pull, a year of surprising growth. Way back on April 23, I christened 2018 “the year of the deal” and my goodness was that borne out by the subsequent eight months. It felt like kismet: Full Pull growing to a point where we have substantial buying power on behalf of y’all, right at the same time that many wineries needed help moving significant volumes of juice, with a willingness to do so via significant discounts. All signs point to more of the same in 2019. But of course we’re not all about the discount deals; in fact they remain a small minority of our offers. The vast majority still focus on the finest wines from the compelling boutique producers of the Pacific Northwest. Our goal remains connecting the finest farmers and winemakers of this corner of the world with a vibrant community of wine lovers who can’t seem to get enough of all this good juice. Speaking of good juice...Here’s what our (fantastic, redacted) winery partner is willing to share about our private-label Rhone blend: it’s 57% Syrah, 31% Grenache, 8% Mourvedre, and 4% Cinsault, from Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope and the Walla Walla Valley. Probably goes without saying that it spent a decent amount of time in barrel (two years; French oak; not much new; barriques and puncheons) and even more time in bottle. I suspect – based on the 14.7% alc in a cold year like 2011 – that there’s a solid component from (very warm) Red Mountain here. Red Mountain also reveals itself in the nose, with that AVA’s signature iron-tinged minerality, paired to brambly black fruit and dark roast coffee beans. With time and air, Syrah savories of bacon fat and black olive emerge. This is drinking in its peak window for sure, with a fine mix of primary fresh fruit, maturing dried fruit, and tertiary complexities galore (dust, leather, mushroom). We’re halfway sold through our parcel.

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull & Friends, 8/29/2018

  (Full Pull & Friends CVSIP (FPF-26)) Hello friends. We have a new wine today from our popular Full Pull & Friends negociant label, and it is extra-exciting for a pair of reasons. Number one, it’s our first FPF Rhone blend since April 2014, and our first-ever Rhone from the winery partner we’ve dubbed “Winery Alpha” (our partner for several Cabernets, several Chardonnays, and several Bordeaux blends). Number two, it’s the first FPF red we’ve been able to offer at a TPU price lower than $29.99 since our 2012 Bacchus Vineyard Cabernet Franc ($26.99 TPU) in June 2014:Here’s what our (fantastic, redacted) winery partner is willing to share about our private-label Rhone blend: it’s 57% Syrah, 31% Grenache, 8% Mourvedre, and 4% Cinsault, from Red Mountain, Wahluke Slope and the Walla Walla Valley. Probably goes without saying that it spent a decent amount of time in barrel (two years; French oak; not much new; barriques and puncheons) and even more time in bottle. I suspect – based on the 14.7% alc in a cold year like 2011 – that there’s a solid component from (very warm) Red Mountain here. Red Mountain also reveals itself in the nose, with that AVA’s signature iron-tinged minerality, paired to brambly black fruit and dark roast coffee beans. With time and air, Syrah savories of bacon fat and black olive emerge. This is drinking in its peak window for sure, with a fine mix of primary fresh fruit, maturing dried fruit, and tertiary complexities galore (dust, leather, mushroom). We’re halfway sold through our parcel.