Home > Wines We Love > 2024 Whispers of Chaos Sangiovese Cabernet Sauvignon

From the Barossa’s newly crowned Best New Act at the 2026 Young Gun of Wine Awards: a sangiovese-cabernet blend that trades the region’s traditional power for restraint, detail and quiet arresting charm.

Producer
Whispers of Chaos
Region

Barossa Valley
RRP

$35
Vintage

2024
Variety/Varieties

Cabernet sauvignon Sangiovese
Alc./Vol.

13.5%

Juicy cherry up front, both sweet and tart, with a core of blackcurrant and a touch of spice – think nutmeg and warm baking spice. The tannins are fine but have real grip, with a lively, blood orange tang.

Marcus Torzi just won Best New Act at the 2026 Young Gun of Wine Awards, and the 2024 Whispers of Chaos Sangiovese Cabernet Sauvignon shows exactly why. It’s one of the most quietly arresting wines to come out of the Barossa Valley in recent memory – a claim made more remarkable by the fact that Torzi was still completing his viticulture and oenology degree when he made it.

The Barossa is a region at a crossroads. Its reputation was forged on dense, concentrated shiraz and grenache – wines built for power, prestige and the cellar – but the world has moved toward freshness, lightness and accessibility, and a warming climate is making the old model harder to sustain besides. The makers who’ll lead the region forward are the ones with an instinct for restraint and a nose for what’s actually delicious, and Torzi is exactly that kind of maker. His label pairs sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon from Moppa Hill – a distinctly Italian idiom, leaning on Tuscany’s own long-proven blend – and matures it primarily in Italian stoneware, with a portion in seasoned oak for roundness and integration. It’s unfined, unfiltered and unforced: a calibrated lightness of touch that producers twice his age are still reaching for, and it’s announced Whispers of Chaos as one of the most exciting new wine projects in the country.

Tasting note

Cherry-edged, with a nice balance of sweet and sour versions of fleshy cherry in the nose. Cabernet comes through as a core of cassis underneath and a faint green edge of blackberry leaf and bay leaf. Lovely spice here – nutmeg and kola nut, and a blood orange tang too. Fine tannins that have surprising persistence and grip, sherbet-like acidity that gently fans across the palate, with a tiny touch of pickled watermelon rind on the finish.

When to drink

Pour for your hipster mates who still think ‘Barossa’ only means big and brawny – preferably at a barbecue, bonus points if there’s a spicy Italian sausage or two smoking away nearby. Or don’t wait for an occasion at all: enjoy it whenever you damn well please, because every night is pizza night, and this bright blend is the perfect cue. Attack it with the same abandon you’re about to bring to that capricciosa.

Themes of this wine

Barossa Valley

The Barossa Valley is Australia’s most famous red wine region, built on old vines, a warm continental climate and a long tradition of powerful, full-bodied shiraz. Some of the country’s oldest producing vineyards, planted well over a century ago, still bear fruit here, giving the region a depth of vinous history few places in the world can match.

New-wave Barossa

Alongside its old guard, the Barossa has in recent years become home to a growing cohort of producers rethinking what the region’s wines can be — favouring earlier picking, whole-bunch ferments, neutral oak and single-vineyard sites over ripeness and power. The movement doesn’t reject the Barossa’s history so much as widen it, proving the region can produce wines of real freshness and finesse alongside its more traditional style.

Sangiovese

Sangiovese is Italy’s most important grape, by both volume and reputation, and it has travelled the world, establishing serious outposts across the New World. In Australia, sangiovese didn’t really start making inroads until the late 1980s, but with improved genetic material, it is now making quite an impression. The key flavour component mentioned when people talk about sangiovese is cherry, generally red, but sometimes black, with that primary profile generally accented with savoury notes of dried berries, hardy herbs, dried earth, leather and cedary notes.

Cabernet sauvignon

Cabernet sauvignon is the world’s most planted grape variety and is grown all over the wine world, with it even persisting in some of the cooler margins of viticultural zones. When things get properly cold, cabernet has little chance of ripening, but many warm regions have long histories with the grape, even if some purists argue that it loses varietal definition if it gets too ripe. Bordeaux in France’s south-west is the spiritual home of cabernet sauvignon, where it is almost always blended with one or more of its Bordelaise compatriots: cabernet franc, merlot, petit verdot and malbec, and where it forms part of some of the world’s most expensive and sought-after wines. Cabernet has been in Australia about as long as any variety, coming across in the Busby Collection of the 1830s. It has since found its most successful homes in Coonawarra, Margaret River and the Yarra Valley, but the oldest plantings are to be found in the warmer zones of the Barossa and Clare Valleys. It can surprisingly produce wines of distinction even in some of the coldest regions, such as Tasmania and Macedon – though a beneficial site is essential for success.

Oval-shaped fermenters

Amphorae are some of the most ancient winemaking vessels, and the modern practice of using ovoid fermenters is a very similar idea, with the shape encouraging ferment vectors to swirl and tumble. While amphorae are typically made from clay, eggs come in a range of materials, from concrete to ceramic to steel.

Explore Further

Winemaker profile

Marcus Torzi

Marcus Torzi was 21 years old and still completing his Bachelor of Viticulture and Oenology at the University of Adelaide when he launched Whispers of Chaos – already making two of the most quietly arresting wines to come out of the Barossa Valley in recent memory. The label debuted in August 2025 from the family farm at Mt McKenzie with two wines: a roussanne, riesling and semillon white blend, and a sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon red. Both are unfined, unfiltered and made with Italian stoneware as the primary maturation vessel. Both have a delicacy and lift that feel like a deliberate, considered answer to the questions the Barossa is currently asking itself. In a region wrestling with its own identity, Torzi’s project is less a debut label than a signpost.

Awards

20th Annual Young Gun of Wine Awards Winners

Twenty years of championing young Australian winemakers. Six trophies. One unforgettable night. Meet the makers who took home the silverware at the 2026 Young Gun of Wine Awards.

Region Guide

Barossa

The Barossa, encompassing the Barossa and Eden Valleys, is the cradle of South Australian winemaking, being home to some of Australian wine’s most venerable names and the home to some of the world’s oldest productive grape vines. First surveyed in the 1830s, the Barossa’s fertile land presented a tantalising prospect for Silesian Lutheran immigrants escaping religious persecution, who quickly identified its suitability for viticulture. That Germanic influence remains to this day, both in place names and the feel of some of the historic buildings, from Lutheran churches and chapels to stone farm buildings and wineries. With around 500 growers and 90 cellar doors, the Barossa is a wine visitor’s paradise, and when you throw in the longstanding traditions of farming and fine produce, it is also a food lover’s mecca. While the Barossa and Eden Valleys are both distinct regions with individual characteristics, they are also inseparable in many ways, sharing some similarities and correlations, and with key wine producers often spilling into both. So, while the regional differences are essential to note, it is helpful to consider them together, especially when visiting.

Home > Wines We Love > 2024 Entropy Cabernet Sauvignon

A supple, elegant example of cabernet sauvignon that showcases what this sometimes-maligned variety has to offer when grown in a cool climate and made in a lighter frame.

Producer
Entropy
Region

Gippsland
RRP

$90
Vintage

2024
Variety/Varieties

Cabernet sauvignon
Alc./Vol.

13%

You can’t feel too bad for cabernet sauvignon – thanks to the historical influence of France’s Bordeaux region and the more recent Napa Valley cult-wine phenomenon, it’s the world’s most widely planted wine grape variety. But familiarity breeds contempt, and many wine consumers now think of cabernet sauvignon as old hat. Entropy’s 2024 Cabernet Sauvignon, grown and vinified by Young Gun of Wine Award winner Ryan Ponsford, offers some compelling reasons to re-examine this stalwart variety.

Tasting note

This wine doesn’t hide its cool-climate origin – a pungent green capsicum note leaps out of the glass, flanked by hints of mentholated eucalyptus, chervil and tarragon. Behind the greenery, though, you’ll find a bevy of high-toned red and purple fruit characteristics – just-ripe blood plums, mulberries and loganberries, with a lick of sweet crème de cassis and hints of freshly-turned earth and pouch tobacco. On the palate, the wine is high-toned and bright, with refreshing acidity and an elegant, relatively light body (especially compared to cabernets from warmer regions). The tannins here are silky and fine, with just enough grip to let their presence be known, and an appealingly bitter ferrous note provides a spine around which the tannins and fruit wrap themselves. The finish reveals some discreet spice notes indicative of the wine’s 10% new oak – a little nutmeg, kola nut and a dusting of bitter dark cacao. There’s just enough fruit ripeness and fleshiness here to ensure that the wine doesn’t tip over into the cool-climate cabernet trap of ‘mean and green’ – instead this is an elegant, compelling example of why cool-climate viticulture, if matched with thoughtful winemaking, might just be the thing to salvage cabernet’s reputation.

Themes of this wine

Cabernet sauvignon

Cabernet sauvignon is the world’s most planted grape variety and is grown all over the wine world, with it even persisting in some of the cooler margins of viticultural zones. When things get properly cold, cabernet has little chance of ripening, but many warm regions have long histories with the grape, even if some purists argue that it loses varietal definition if it gets too ripe. Bordeaux in France’s south-west is the spiritual home of cabernet sauvignon, where it is almost always blended with one or more of its Bordelaise compatriots: cabernet franc, merlot, petit verdot and malbec, and where it forms part of some of the world’s most expensive and sought-after wines. Cabernet has been in Australia about as long as any variety, coming across in the Busby Collection of the 1830s. It has since found its most successful homes in Coonawarra, Margaret River and the Yarra Valley, but the oldest plantings are to be found in the warmer zones of the Barossa and Clare Valleys. It can surprisingly produce wines of distinction even in some of the coldest regions, such as Tasmania and Macedon – though a beneficial site is essential for success.

Hang time

One of the paradoxes of cool-climate wines is that they can – when grown under the right circumstances – taste exceptionally ripe. Chalk this up to what viticulturists and winemakers call ‘hang time’, or the duration that bunches of fruit stay on the vine. In cooler climates such as Tasmania’s, wine grapes can take a leisurely stroll towards picking time, allowing sugar levels to gradually accumulate while the grapes build extra layers of ‘phenolic’ or flavour ripeness, and cool nights keep the acid levels nice and high to balance the finished wine. It sounds like a dream in theory, but in practice it’s a high-wire act: the longer the grapes stay out in the vineyard, the more likely they are to be decimated by weather, disease, or pests – and in cooler years the bunches may never quite arrive at their theoretical destination.

Gippsland

A vast region, Gippsland stretches from Westernport Bay right across eastern Victoria to the New South Wales border. And although many of the wineries are on the western end of the GI, with a concentration in the unofficial subzone of South Gippsland, the region still has a vast array of macroclimates and geological variations. Even with that variability, it’s safe to say that pinot noir and chardonnay are the regional strengths, with generally cool conditions and good rainfall consistent themes.

Home > Wines We Love > 2022 Ben Haines ‘Red’

A melange of fruit from the Pyrenees, Grampians and Yarra Valley – spicy, crunchy and vibrant, this is a pitch perfect lighter red with savouriness and freshness in equal measure.

Producer
Ben Haines
Region

Victoria
RRP

$32
Vintage
Variety/Varieties

Cabernet sauvignon Pinot noir Shiraz (Syrah) Touriga nacional
Alc./Vol.

11.8%

Ben Haines may have moved to the Adelaide Hills, but his affinity for mediumweight Victorian shiraz-based wines lives on, with this a melange of fruit from the Pyrenees, Grampians and Yarra Valley – Haines’ happy hunting grounds. Spicy, crunchy and vibrant, this is a pitch perfect lighter red with savouriness and freshness in equal measure.

Tasting note

This is from varieties that aren’t declared on the label, but nosing it, shiraz clearly plays a big role (75%, in fact), and it’s supported by some touriga nacional and pinot noir (10% each), along with a dash of cabernet sauvignon (5%). Fruit is sourced from the Pyrenees, Grampians and Yarra Valley. Striking out at a lowish alcohol, this doesn’t lack for savoury, earthy character and flavour. It’s a midweight red built for everyday drinking and to be versatile with food, but it’s a long way from the juicy, confected reds that often occupy that roster, with ample tannin, dried herb notes and spicy intrigue.

Themes of this wine

Syrah/shiraz

Shiraz dominates the Australian wine industry, accounting for nearly a third of this country’s vines. The grape’s traditional home is in France’s Northern Rhône, with wines that combine elegance and power, while Australia is perhaps best known for the muscular styles from warmer areas. Today, drinkers of Australian shiraz are spoilt for choice with expressions ranging from the elegant and spicy to the monumental.

Pinot Noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grow and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it’s also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Touriga Nacional

Touriga nacional is best known as a Port variety, but it can play a compelling role in table wines, too. Although the grape has been planted in this country for a long time, it typically slipped into blends – mostly fortified –unacknowledged. With intense fruit in a blueberry and dark berry spectrum, touriga nacional typically also shows a lifted fragrance of violets in a wine’s youth, and it can have both leathery and minty notes. Tannins are a big feature of the variety, so expect a drying and grippy palate on most wines.

Cabernet Sauvignon

The world’s most prolific wine grape, cabernet sauvignon has been planted in Australia since the first days of viticulture here. Today, its prime homes are arguably Margaret River and Coonawarra, but the Yarra Valley and even the Hunter Valley mount very convincing cases, too. Cassis or blackcurrant is one of cabernet sauvignon’s prime flavour profiles, though blackberry, mulberry and plum also feature. Notes of mint and capsicum (pyrazines) generally appear when less ripe, with a leafy varietal character persisting in most riper versions.

Yarra Valley

The Yarra Valley, about 50 km north-east of Melbourne, is one of Australia’s premier wine regions, and one of the country’s coldest viticultural zones. The regional champions are chardonnay and pinot noir, with cabernet and shiraz in more than able support. Aside from the vinous pedigree, the Yarra is also one of the best serviced wine regions for visitors, with a wealth of cellar doors and restaurants, and ample accommodation across the price spectrum.

The Grampians & Pyrenees

The Grampians and Pyrenees are nestled in the Western Victoria viticultural zone, an umbrella classification that stretches across to the South Australian border. And while the area is vast, there are around half as many vines in the whole zone than there are in the Yarra Valley. The Grampians and the Pyrenees share a bit in common, with the elevation of their attendant mountain ranges contributing to their subregional character, as well as a specialisation in red wines, with shiraz taking the lead. Being further inland to the north-east, the Pyrenees is more continental in climate with warm days and cold nights, while the Grampians feel the influence of the Southern Ocean, with sea breezes doing the cooling at night.

Home > Wines We Love > 2019 Cullen ‘Dancing in the Moonlight’ Rosé

This rosé is an expression of all the red varieties in the Cullen vineyard viewed through a deep pink lens. Fragrant, spicy and herbal, with a plump of richness cleaned up with a gentle grip working in concert with the acidity.

Producer
Cullen
Region

Margaret River
RRP

$25
Vintage

2019
Variety/Varieties

Cabernet franc Cabernet sauvignon Malbec Merlot
Alc./Vol.

13.3%

Vanya Cullen makes some of Margaret River’s most iconic classic wines, but she also wanders creatively, with her Supernatural series embodying that spirit of adventure. Cullen’s rosé is an expression of all the red varieties in the vineyard viewed through a deep pink lens, fragrant, spicy and herbal, with a plump of richness cleaned up with a gentle grip working in concert with the acidity.

Tasting note

Made from all the red varieties at the biodynamic Cullen vineyard – cabernet sauvignon, cabernet franc, merlot, malbec – this rosé is made by the saignée method. Lifted smoky notes of leafy cabernet with essence-like red and dark berries, blackcurrant leaf and freshly cut soft herbs. This is dialled up a little in colour, thumbing its nose at Provence-like paleness, and it does the same with the flavour, along with a pillowy slip of sweetness greeting the palate first up, then cleaning up with gentle tannin and mild but persuasive acidity.

Themes of this wine

Saignée

The saignée method is where juice is drained from crushed red grapes prior to fermentation to increase the impact of tannins and colour when the grapes are macerated. It effectively concentrates that wine, while providing juice blushed with colour that can be made into rosé

Biodynamic

An organic farming method created by Rudolph Steiner in the 1920s, biodynamics is a slightly mystical approach, employing elaborate organic ‘preparations’ to restore the natural balance of the soil and encourage microorganisms. It also observes the lunar cycle to prescribe actions in the vineyard and winery. Why some of it works is not clearly understood, but it is used by some of the world’s greatest producers.

Cabernet sauvignon

The world’s most prolific wine grape, cabernet sauvignon has been planted in Australia since the first days of viticulture here. Today, its prime homes are arguably Margaret River and Coonawarra, but the Yarra Valley and even the Hunter Valley mount very convincing cases, too. Cassis or blackcurrant is one of cabernet sauvignon’s prime flavour profiles, though blackberry, mulberry and plum also feature. Notes of mint and capsicum (pyrazines) generally appear when less ripe, with a leafy varietal character persisting in most riper versions, though ultra-rich versions will tend to lose this and become more concentrated in a dark berry conserve-like way.

Cabernet franc

Associated primarily with Bordeaux, where it partners with cabernet sauvignon, merlot, petit verdot and malbec, cabernet franc reaches its greatest heights on the Right Bank of the Gironde estuary. There it goes to making some of the greatest and most expensive wines of Bordeaux – such as from St-Emilion and Pomerol – often in league with merlot, while on the warmer Left Bank, cabernet sauvignon is king. The Loire Valley is the other prime territory for cabernet franc, where it is mostly bottled unblended. Franc shares much of its profile with cabernet sauvignon, but franc tends to be less imposing, more fragrant with a less-pronounced tannin structure, and if pushed a little riper can be quite soft on the palate with pooling ripe fruit.

Merlot

Merlot has developed a reputation as a grape that produces soft and gentle wines, but it is far more than that. Although it’s capable of making wines of great elegance and detail when bottled solo, merlot more often makes a major contribution to blends, buffering cabernet sauvignon’s sterner side, adding depth and filling out the palate with fruit. Merlot is the second-most widely planted grape in the world, and it’s the most planted in France, where it originates. Merlot is a grape of principal importance in Bordeaux, accompanying cabernet sauvignon and cabernet franc in occupying the lion’s share of those famous blended wines.

Malbec

Malbec is a French grape that has become much more synonymous with Argentina, where it dominates the country’s vineyards. In Australia, malbec is typically blended as a minor component, but with better vine material and new thinking, malbec’s personality is emerging from the shadows. With a generally dark fruit profile, plums, dark cherries and blackberries, malbec can range from the deeply fruited and ruggedly tannic to more supple and silky expressions – typically those from Argentina, where the vine material is quite different to everywhere else.

Home > Wines We Love > 2020 Edenflo ‘Fresh Prince’

The ‘Fresh Prince’ marshals a quartet of red varieties with decent crossover on a Venn diagram but are rarely all seen together, offering a fragrantly floral and spicy nose, with earthy notes, red and dark fruits and a palate of chewy, grapey tannins and fresh zip.

Producer
Edenflo
Region

Eden Valley
RRP

$32
Vintage

2020
Variety/Varieties

Cabernet sauvignon Grenache Pinot noir Shiraz (Syrah)
Alc./Vol.

12%

Edenflo’s Andrew Wardlaw turns out classically fragrant expressions of Eden Valley syrah, but it is perhaps his eccentric approach to blending and guerrilla winemaking that is making the biggest waves. The ‘Fresh Prince’ marshals a quartet of red varieties with decent crossover on a Venn diagram but are rarely all seen together, offering a fragrantly floral and spicy nose, with earthy notes, red and dark fruits and a palate of chewy, grapey tannins and fresh zip.

Tasting note

A blend of pinot noir, grenache, syrah and cabernet sauvignon, with no variety dominating, rather the whole meshes neatly, with notes of red fruits and earthy dark ones, dusky blue and red florals, cassia, star anise, plum skin, woodsy herbs and a leafy lift to close. This is midweight, with pithy, grapey tannins, giving this a charmingly chewy feel, with bright acidity providing a fresh lift. Unadorned with oak or other trappings, this is a natural-feeling wine of bright purity and fresh drive, layered with spicy detail.

Themes of this wine

Eden Valley

Eden Valley is the higher altitude section of the Barossa zone, nestling up against the Adelaide Hills and being meaningful cooler than its neighbour, the Barossa Valley. Riesling and shiraz are the key varieties, both typically being cast in an elegant light, with shiraz fragrant and lifted, though still with plenty of power, while riesling is characterised by race and verve.

Blending

Most wines are a blend of some sort. It may be a blend of the same variety from the same vineyard, but with different blocks, clones, aspects, picking dates, ferments and then barrels (if barrel aged), each batch is a little different. Sometimes everything goes back in, and sometimes a winemaker will select the parcels to make a particular style of finished wine or just the best wine they can. This principle is used across varieties, too, with many traditional regions in the Old World blending across varieties to make a complete whole, with some grapes adding fragrance or fruit depth, some tannin, some acid… the art of the blender is to get the balance right. Increasingly, winemakers are breaking the established rules of these classic blends, making surprisingly new expressions from varieties that have rarely shared a bottle prior.

Pinot noir

Pinot noir is one of the wine world’s most revered grapes. Notoriously fickle to grow and make, it makes what many see as the pinnacle of red wine in France’s Burgundy, but it’s also found many happy homes around the world, and none more so than in Australia across our cooler viticultural regions.

Grenache

The great grape of the Southern Rhône, grenache, has also found many homes around the world, from Spain, to Italy, to California, while Australia is home to the world’s oldest productive grenache vines, planted in 1948. Today, a renaissance is seeing the grape championed, with makers in McLaren Vale arguably turning out the most compelling examples.

Syrah/shiraz

Shiraz dominates the Australian wine industry, accounting for nearly a third of this country’s vines. The grape’s traditional home is in France’s Northern Rhône, with wines that combine elegance and power, while Australia is perhaps best known for the muscular styles from warmer areas. Today, drinkers of Australian shiraz are spoilt for choice with expressions ranging from the elegant and spicy to the monumental.

Cabernet sauvignon

The world’s most prolific wine grape, cabernet sauvignon has been planted in Australia since the first days of viticulture here. Today, its prime homes are arguably Margaret River and Coonawarra, but the Yarra Valley and even the Hunter Valley also mount very convincing cases. It’s spiritual home, though, is in France’s Bordeaux region, where it is responsible for some of the world’s most famous and expensive wines.

2024 Whispers of Chaos Sangiovese Cabernet Sauvignon Barossa Valley

Juicy cherry up front, both sweet and tart, with a core of blackcurrant and a touch of spice – think nutmeg and warm baking spice. The tannins are fine but have real grip, with a lively, blood orange tang.

Tasting note

When to drink

Themes of this wine

Barossa Valley

New-wave Barossa

Sangiovese

Cabernet sauvignon

Oval-shaped fermenters

Explore Further

Winemaker profile

Marcus Torzi

Awards

20th Annual Young Gun of Wine Awards Winners

Region Guide

Barossa

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Cabernet sauvignon

Hang time

Gippsland

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Syrah/shiraz

Pinot Noir

Touriga Nacional

Cabernet Sauvignon

Yarra Valley

The Grampians & Pyrenees

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Saignée

Biodynamic

Cabernet sauvignon

Cabernet franc

Merlot

Malbec

Tasting note

Themes of this wine

Eden Valley

Blending

Pinot noir

Grenache

Syrah/shiraz

Cabernet sauvignon

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