The Beginning

Regular readers have known for some time of my intention to start a Washington wine-focused retailer. Well, intention is now reality.

Full Pull Wines, LLC is a Limited Liability Corporation in the State of Washington. I know because Secretary of State Sam Reed just sent me a signed Certificate of Formation. Thanks, Sam!

For the immediate future, the blog here at Swordfern will continue to contain entries and tasting notes on Washington wine (like the 1999 Cayuse Syrah Cailloux Vineyard I’m drinking right now – sneak preview: it’s alive!). If you’re interested in the birth and growth of a wine-related startup, the best way to follow the action right now is on Twitter.

Lots more to come, and I hope you will consider joining me on this journey!

Scenes from a Startup: The Vagaries of Grad School

Those of you still reading this page have probably noticed a marked decline in postings of late. Such is life in the wild world of grad school, where a cushy, blog-indulgent fall quarter can quickly turn into a hellacious, demanding, blog-discouraging winter quarter.

My schedule and my classes are both more difficult. I have regular 8:30 classes, which reduces my desire to crack open a bottle on a Tuesday. And I have homework (horror of horrors), which eats time and keeps me away from writing.

It also keeps me away from working on the business end of Swordfern (which actually has a new name, but until incorporation we’ll keep on calling it Swordfern). But the good news is that the spring quarter schedule was just released, and if all goes as expected, next quarter should allow a full court press on getting this business launched and running.

There is also a moderate possibility that my first act in any official manner with the new company will come at Taste Washington. Stay tuned, and thanks for sticking with me through these quieter times.

And in the mean time, are you reading Sean Sullivan’s Washington Wine Report? He just released his report from barrel tasting weekend in Walla Walla, and it is an absolute treasure trove. The man has an impeccable palate and a way with words, and I encourage you to visit his site post haste.

Scenes from a Startup: Data Entry II

With Kelli out of town for the weekend, I hammered away at the data entry and have now finished my initial list. Out of my initial list of 86 wineries, 4 were too big to be considered boutique, 3 turned out to not be in Washington (oops), and 6 don’t seem to be in business anymore. With those 13 removed, I ended up entering wines for 73 wineries and wound up with a total of 653 wines.

Of red wines, the most common type was Syrah, with 113 wines averaging $38.78, followed by Bourdeaux-style blends (104 wines averaging $39.76) and Cabernet Sauvignon (99 wines averaging $42.11).

The most common white was Chardonnay (29 wines averaging $24.76), followed by Viognier (23 wines averaging $22.17).

There’s lots more data to chew on, but one clear realization for me is that most of the wines from the wineries I want to target are not cheap. Only 17% come in under $20. I am going to need either wealthy customers or different wineries.

Scenes from a Startup: Data Entry

I’m sure all of you have explored every cranny of this website and know that I don’t only drink wine for pleasure but also hope to make it my business. Soon. Like, as soon as I graduate.

So far, my business plan is done and I’m now working on more of a tactical plan. Right now, I’m trying to determine which Washington wines I would look to sell in year one (given a perfect world where wineries like Quilceda Creek and Cayuse give me a nice, chunky allocation; not bloody likely, but a guy can dream).

Out of Washington’s 590 wineries, I have narrowed my list to about 85 targets, so the task now is to put together a database of all the wines that each of those 85 wineries sells. Once I have that list, I can target specific wines so that I have a breadth of selection by varietal, price point, and producer (for all you Excel nerds out there – yes, I’m planning to use Solver to optimize that targeting).

I’m currently smack in the middle of data entry. So far, I have entered 208 wines from 22 wineries, and I am about 34% of the way to a full case of carpal tunnel syndrome. While I could use the Amazon Mechanical Turk to pay a classroom full of Bangladeshi schoolchildren 25 cents per hour to do this task for me, my interest in Washington wine and ambivalence towards “crowdsourcing” leads me to shred my own fingers for the good of the cause.

Question on this topic for the readers: which Washington winery’s wines would you most want to see me sell?