The Squid’s Fist by Some Young Punks (video)
Posted on September 22nd, 2010
Saved in Red wine, Sour Grapes recommends, €20-€30
The Some Young Punks are doing some seriously interesting stuff with wine and how they package it. This one is The Squid’s Fist and it’s a blend of 70% Sangiovese (the stuff what they make Chianti and Brunello from in Italy) from the Barossa Valley, 30% Shiraz from McClaren Vale.
Availability
Just under 1,500 cases made of this stuff, so if you want some, be quick and click on curiouswines.ie to get some (€21).
Points
The wine received 90 points from Stephen Tanzer in Wine Spectator. Jancis Robinson was on Grape Radio recently (worth a listen) and pointed out that points, my dear, just don’t matter in Britain. Despite this, more and more retailers people are quoting Tanzer, Parker et al.
So, question of the day – in a Ralph Keyes accent – can you turn pleasure into points?
True for you, Lar, I haven’t seen a critter label featuring a squid before or, indeed, any cephalopod.
I wouldn’t get hung up on points but I’d be worried if something ‘scored’ (say) 75/100, and I’d be expecting big-ish things if something got 93/100.
Anyone splitting hairs on wine points in relation to wine’s drinkability is a dullard. Regarding investment, points can become self fulfilling so I guess they’re meaningful in that sense.
Glad you enjoyed, Lar!
I think points *are* becoming more important to the consumer, despite what Jancis or others might suggest.
With the proliferation of new brands, new labels and, not least, the amount of smoke & mirror pricing and promotion that’s endemic in the industry now, they offer *some* guide as to the quality on offer behind the increasingly dazzling and showey labels.
We love the Punks because the wines stand up to the pizazz, but rather than taking our subjective (and ultimately biased – hey, we think all our wines are great, right?) judgement that a wine is 90 points, informing a prospective purchaser that Tanzer, Parker or Halliday reckoned this wine stacked up is as good a way as any of giving an “independent” benchmark.
All that said, scores, awards, critical opinions and subjectivity aside, it’s the punter who decides on whether we’ve given them value or not. *Sharpens pencil once more* ;)
I had this conversation recently with an American, who uses Parker’s points system as a guide for wine buying and investing. His point was that he prefers the fuller, richer style that Parker also seems to favour, so would be inclined to agree with him. Makes sense really.
If consumers are unsure and happen to find a critic that has similiar tastes, then the point system can be very useful.