Ian,
otherwise affectionately known to his friends as "Bails", arrived
in Australia at the age of seven and was fascinated by the flavours of fruit,
vegetables and seafood he had never before experienced.
He grew up in western country NSW where his Mother and Father (both cooks with
a good hearty English food background) developed their recipes and Ian ate all
manner of country dishes from the entire beast to larvae of the land like witchetty
grubs, pricklypear fruit, and kangaroo before it became more commonplace as
it is today.
In Sydney, he developed his career, enjoying a sales and marketing role in the
grocery industry before entering the Wine, Beer and Spirit business in 1970.
Always curious, he amassed a wealth of knowledge over the following 20 years
and began teaching at TAFE part-time in 1991, gradually changing to educational
roles, writing courses and texts progressively.
In 2002, Ian published his first book "A Top Drop - Everything You Need
To Know About Buying Australian Wine" along with co-author Ian Powrie.
It has become a recognised benchmark for straight forward, no-nonsense wine
knowledge.
Today, Ian Bailey believes he still has much to communicate about wine and continues
to run wine appreciation and education, classes and courses, with a scheduled
programme throughout 2005. Many of these are in conjunction with TAFE NSW at
the Ryde College,Sydney, with organizations such as Liquorland and Vintage Cellars,
but can also be arranged for private or corporate organisations.
