Lives at a crossroads, they turned to wine. Now they're at the top of their game

It's the 18th year of the awards, which recognise emerging talent in the wine industry, highlighting winemakers with vision, those who are trying new things and reimagining wine.

Brown was also a finalist in 2021, Smith in 2023.

Brown came to wine via a career in hospitality. He was the owner and head chef of the much loved Pulp Kitchen in Ainslie and when he sold up in 2017 he thought the hours might be better if he became a winemaker.

"I was wrong about that," he says.

He began work as a vintage hand at Collector Wines in 2017, working with Alex McKay.

"And I was completely hooked."

He began studying wine at Charles Sturt University, Wagga, and launched Linear Wines in 2018.

His goal has always been to create small batch wines, sourcing grapes from the Canberra District, Tumbarumba, Gundagai and Hilltops. His current range includes a gruner veltliner, a fiano, a gewurztraminer and a chardonnay; and a pinot noir, grenache, tempranillo and a couple of shirazes.

He's quite proud too of the gamay "en carbo", where the handpicked fruit has gone through a 100 per cent carbonic maceration, where the whole bunch fruit is loaded into stainless steel tanks and topped up with CO2 and closed for 21 days, before it's foot stomped and pressed off into French Oak for 10 months.

Smith's wine journey started mid-divorce. The mother of three young daughters needed a new job and went into wine sales.

"I always liked drinking wine but never took it too seriously," she says.

"And then a friend asked me to come and help with vintage and I realised I had found what I wanted to do with my life."

She found work with Tim Kirk at Clonakilla, Bryan Martin at Ravensworth and Alex McKay, launching her own label, Intrepidus in 2022. Her current favourite wine is a barrel fermented chenin blanc, which the Young Guns of Wine team has named among the nation's best. The tasting notes read: "A nice generosity of fruit with a balanced crunchy acid, lingering finish, calling for another glass to be poured."

She's fascinated by what happens in the vineyard, too. She leases a small one-acre plot in Yass, growing shiraz, sangiovese and cabernet sauvignon, but lost the entire crop to frosts this year.

Brown, 40, and Smith, 36, both say being recognised by the awards is a great honour.

"Winemaking is hard work and to have your wines recognised is a really good feeling," says Smith.

"It's not just about your story, but the wine, too, everything has to fall into place.

"There's so much competition, you walk into a bottle shop and there's hundreds of wines, so something like this gives you a little brand recognition which is always helpful."

It's the same for Brown.

"If it gets some eyeballs on your wine that might not have heard of you, it's a great thing. The Young Guns brand is so strong and it's great to be part of that," he says.

"To know that people have tasted your wine and liked it, but can also see what you do and where you're headed is a nice feeling."

Young Guns of Wine founder Rory Kent has the industry has evolved so much since the first awards in 2007.

"Every year, we're seeing new ideas from the emerging talent, and they're shaping the environment that we get to enjoy," Kent says.

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"It's also not just about the products - it's the learnings that peers can take from their adventurous winemaking. It's also how they're presenting, labelling and talking about their work - how they're connecting with wine professionals and consumers.

"That's why, uniquely and since day one, the wines for the Young Gun of Wine Awards are not tasted blind. These awards are as much about vision and leadership as they are about the quality of wine in the glass."

The public can vote for the People's Choice Award at younggunofwine.com. Everyone who votes goes into the draw for a year's supply of wine (52 bottles from the YGOW). The winner will be announced in June.