Full Pull Wines: Unique New Washington State Wine Retailer
By Kori ~ September 11th, 2009.
Full Pull Wines, founded by our good friend Paul Zitarelli, is a new Washington State wine retailer located in the warehouse district in South Seattle. Full Pull is not just another brick and mortar wine shop nor is it strictly an online wine retailer. Full Pull sells exclusively Washington State wines through a one offer per day model. If you are a shopper like me who loves the personal attention and customer service of Nordstrom but prefers the prices of Target, Full Pull Wines could be the perfect wine retailer for you. We recently had an opportunity to tour the Full Pull warehouse and visit with Paul about his new company.
Founder Paul Zitarelli was born and raised just outside of Philadelphia, went to college at Harvard, and moved to Seattle five years ago for his wife Kelli to attend graduate school. Since moving to Washington State, Paul’s enthusiasm and passion for wine has really taken off. He recently received his MBA from the University of Washington, working on the business plan for Full Pull Wines while he was there. During graduate school, he gained valuable experience in the wine industry by writing a wine blog, working in a local wine shop, and doing project work for a distributor.
The three things that Paul believes will set him apart from other wine retailers are palate, penmanship, and price—the three P’s, if you will.
- Palate—Paul lives in Washington State and has great local knowledge about Washington State wines. He will only be offering wines that he has personally tasted and is really excited about.
- Penmanship—Paul is a gifted writer and wants to tell the stories behind the wines, wineries, and winemakers. He plans to give those on his list a similar experience to the one they would get if they visited the winery themselves and visited with the owner or winemaker.
- Price—Since Full Pull does not carry a big inventory or have huge overhead, Paul’s intention is to pass those savings on to his customers.
While at my first job out of college, we had a company retreat in the Adirondacks. At the end of the day, the CEO asked me what we did today. I said, “We had a great day, sir. We went hiking, swimming, ate good food, and drank good wines.†He said, “That’s great. Here in the Adirondacks, we call that a ‘full pull.’ I never could get confirmation of whether that was true or whether he made it up, but it stuck with me as a way to describe those full and perfect days. That fits the mission of this company which is to facilitate days like that for other people, and that’s what I think wine can do. –Paul Zitarelli, Founder of Full Pull Wines
Paul will be sending out his first email offer for Full Pull’s official launch during the week of September 21st. The only way to purchase wine from Full Pull is to be on the email list. Paul will send out one offer per day, three to five times per week. If you are interested in checking out Full Pull Wines, head on over to the website to sign up for the Full Pull email list. Feel free to sign up and start reading the offers and then decide if you want to place an order. There are no purchasing or minimum volume requirements. The only information you need to provide to be added to the list is your name, email address, and state of residence.
When placing an order, you will be given two delivery options. You may either pick up your wine at the Full Pull warehouse on a Thursday pickup day or have it shipped. Those that choose Thursday pickup (TPU) will receive the best prices and also have the opportunity to attend a tasting during the pickup time. The TPU pricing level will also be available to shipping customers who are willing to wait to accumulate a full case before their wine is shipped.
If you live in a state that can receive wine shipments from Washington, Full Pull Wines could be the avenue for you to get your hands on excellent Washington State wines that do not currently have nationwide distribution.
Personally, I am excited about Paul’s business model and wish him the best of luck. I just signed up for his email list and hope that you will consider doing so, too.
NOTE: Wine Peeps does not have a financial interest in Full Pull Wines.
Filed under: American Wine, General Wine Information, Washington State Wine
So, this is just like Gargiste, but Washington only?
Andrew,
Yes, Full Pull is similar to Garagiste but is Washington only and, in most cases, you should get much quicker delivery.