JebDunnuck.com

• By Jeb Dunnuck
  Latest Releases from Washington State, 4/5/2018 (link)

  (Block Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Discovery Vineyard) Subscribe to see review text.

Full Pull

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Block Reoffers, 8/3/2018

  (Block Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Block 1 Discovery Vineyard) Phenol55 REMINDER: Full Pull has partnered with Phenol55 for *optional* storage services for our list members. P55 is a full-service wine cellar less than ten minutes from our warehouse, in the subterranean basement of the Malt House in the heart of Georgetown. See here for more details, and then contact Phenol55 if you’re interested in signing up. ----- Hello friends. One of the most exciting additions to Full Pull over the past fews years has been our winery within Full Pull—Block Wines. The addition of this project, made by the immeasurably talented Morgan Lee, has led to the opening of our tasting room; it has led to additional members of team Full Pull; it has led to many more available days for list members to pick up wine; and it has led to more delicious Washington-made juice for us all to enjoy. This summer has marked the first time since its inception that we’ve had this many Block Wines available at the same time. Seems like the perfect opportunity to allow for reorders:And finally, the Block Wines Disco Cab. This one was originally offered March 18, 2018. Excerpts from the original: I first heard about Disco back in 2010-2011. At that point, I believe there were three main wineries working with the fruit: Quilceda Creek, Andrew Will, and Adams Bench; serious producers all. Milo and Kay May are the owners and growers at Discovery, and they planted out the site in 2005 with the encouragement of Paul Champoux (Champoux Vineyard is right around the corner), and the Golitzin family of Quilceda Creek, who used Discovery Block 1 fruit from 2007 through 2011, until their own Horse Heaven Hills estate came online. This vineyard is just entering its teenage years, and the result so far have been staggering. I’m thrilled that we’re locked into Discovery Cabernet for the foreseeable future. We took a chance last autumn and submitted this Cab to the Great Northwest Invitational, one of the premier blind multi-panel judgings that happens each year in the Pacific Northwest. The wine had only been in bottle for about five weeks, but apparently even then it was shining, earning a gold medal (one of just 16 golds among 80 Cabernet Sauvignons judged). This vintage was entirely barrel-fermented (thanks, Morgan; I know that wasn’t easy!), all with native yeasts, and then pressed into a single once-used 500-liter French oak puncheon and a single new French barrique; so about 30% new wood. It was aged for 21 months before bottling last August, and has now had another 7 months to come around in bottle. Alc is 14.7%, and aromas come roaring up out of the glass: gorgeous Cab notes that gain in complexity with each passing hour: crème de cassis and black tea; cedar and violet; persistent notes of graphitic minerality, the signature of this area. The palate is seamless, with a rich attack, a plump mid-palate, and a chewy finish awash in green-tea tannins. There’s a vein of eucalyptus that flows through this wine, keeping things fresh and lively. Ultimately, the watchword here is balance: balance of richness and structure; balance of fruit and earth elements. I would defy those who believe Cabernet can’t express terroir to taste this wine and tell me it isn’t chiseled out of Kay and Milo May’s Horse Heaven dirt.

• By Paul Zitarelli
  Full Pull Block 1, 3/18/2018

  (Block Wines Cabernet Sauvignon Block 1 Discovery Vineyard) Hello friends. Today we have Cabernet Sauvignon from the original block of a site planted out in 2005 for none other than Quilceda Creek Vintners, and then used by QC for their program from 2007 through 2011, when their own estate site in the Horse Heaven Hills came online. This is as fine a site for growing Cabernet Sauvignon as currently exists in Washington, and we've got it:And finally, the Block Wines Disco Cab. This one was originally offered March 18, 2018. Excerpts from the original: I first heard about Disco back in 2010-2011. At that point, I believe there were three main wineries working with the fruit: Quilceda Creek, Andrew Will, and Adams Bench; serious producers all. Milo and Kay May are the owners and growers at Discovery, and they planted out the site in 2005 with the encouragement of Paul Champoux (Champoux Vineyard is right around the corner), and the Golitzin family of Quilceda Creek, who used Discovery Block 1 fruit from 2007 through 2011, until their own Horse Heaven Hills estate came online. This vineyard is just entering its teenage years, and the result so far have been staggering. I’m thrilled that we’re locked into Discovery Cabernet for the foreseeable future. We took a chance last autumn and submitted this Cab to the Great Northwest Invitational, one of the premier blind multi-panel judgings that happens each year in the Pacific Northwest. The wine had only been in bottle for about five weeks, but apparently even then it was shining, earning a gold medal (one of just 16 golds among 80 Cabernet Sauvignons judged). This vintage was entirely barrel-fermented (thanks, Morgan; I know that wasn’t easy!), all with native yeasts, and then pressed into a single once-used 500-liter French oak puncheon and a single new French barrique; so about 30% new wood. It was aged for 21 months before bottling last August, and has now had another 7 months to come around in bottle. Alc is 14.7%, and aromas come roaring up out of the glass: gorgeous Cab notes that gain in complexity with each passing hour: crème de cassis and black tea; cedar and violet; persistent notes of graphitic minerality, the signature of this area. The palate is seamless, with a rich attack, a plump mid-palate, and a chewy finish awash in green-tea tannins. There’s a vein of eucalyptus that flows through this wine, keeping things fresh and lively. Ultimately, the watchword here is balance: balance of richness and structure; balance of fruit and earth elements. I would defy those who believe Cabernet can’t express terroir to taste this wine and tell me it isn’t chiseled out of Kay and Milo May’s Horse Heaven dirt.