Ian Home was one of the unsung heroes of Australian wine. He died with few winelovers knowing his name. He was a visionary wine man, a successful businessman, a winemaking innovator (he founded Yellowglen), an inspired marketer and the catalyst for many of the revolutionary changes that have occurred in the new age of Australian wine.
Ian was a great mentor, encouraging and supporting many who have gone on to great things. He was also an absolutely charming man from the old school, well-dressed, well-spoken, full of laughter and fun with a perpetual twinkle in his eye - a true bon vivant. 
Ian's love of good food and wine began well before the fashion for both. His love of champagne set him on a pioneering path to create a high-quality Australian sparkling wine with Yellowglen, the brand he launched almost 40 years ago which is now a vinous icon.
Ian was born in 1929 and grew up at Piggoreet, near Ballarat. Orphaned at 17, he worked as a jackaroo and wool-classer before starting work in 1952 with his soon-to-be father-in-law at his Ballarat grocery business.
Fast forward 20 years and Ian and his wife Dorothy have three daughters and he is chairman of the burgeoning independent grocery group SSW with an interest in 11 stores, which incidentally included successful liquor divisions.
Always the innovator Ian introduced early computers and many US-inspired management systems. However, fuelled by his involvement in the Ballarat Food and Wine Society and a growing love of fine wine (including champagne) Ian and Dorothy bought 28 hectares of unforgiving land at Smythesdale, where they planted 21 varieties on a vineyard he named Yellowglen after a disused gold mine found on the property.
These grapes were to play a key role in the next phase in Ian Home's adventurous life.
Ian's savvy marketing eye saw a perfect niche between champagne and everyday Australian sparkling wines of the day such as Seppelt Great Western and Penfolds Minchinbury. In 1978 he launched Yellowglen to instant acclaim.
Yellowglen Non-Vintage Brut was pitched at $7.95, half the price of N.V. Champagne and twice the price of Australian "champagnes", as they were still known. The packaging was suitably smart and Yellowglen quickly assumed the mantle as Australia's premier sparkling wine.
Ian's marketing strategy was simple and combined his love of good food, good wine and good times. He and Yellowglen dined out with all the gatekeepers - wine press, retailers and restaurateurs - at suitably prestige establishments. With a minuscule marketing budget, Ian used yesteryear's version of social media to push Yellowglen sales to 125,000 cases within a decade.
In 1979 French winemaker Dominique Landrigan joined Ian at Yellowglen, with fruit sourcing of the key varieties chardonnay and pinot noir already a looming issue.
It is hard to imagine that 40 years ago these mainstream varieties were just being pioneered in cool sites such as Geelong, Yarra Valley, Mornington Peninsula and Tasmania.
Over the next decade the firsts for Yellowglen were numerous with the ever-nagging need for grapes and infrastructure solved when Yellowglen amalgamated with Mildara. Mildara's marketing maestro Ray King and Ian Home forged a formidable team, with Yellowglen sales continuing to soar.
Ian was instrumental in the expansion of Mildara, helped to bring labels such as Wolf Blass and Balgownie Estate into the portfolio. He remained on the Mildara board
until 1994.
Many things had changed in the 20 years since the first vines destined for Yellowglen were planted but the creative side of Ian Home could not be stifled. In 1987 he joined a group of business associates to create Tuck's Ridge on the Mornington Peninsula.
Dorothy died in 1989 and Ian remarried in 1992 to Sue (nee Maberly Smith). Ian and Sue moved to Red Hill and formed a partnership with well-known Melbourne restaurateur Leon Massoni and his wife Vivienne, who already had a plot of chardonnay.
Like so many lovers of pinot noir, Ian was hooked on Burgundy and relished the challenge of crafting a Mornington pinot of similar structure and style. Quality pinot noir was thin on the ground and the Massoni Pinot quickly found a niche in top-end restaurants and with the emerging cohort of consumers proudly claiming themselves as "pinotphiles".
Ian continued to expand Massoni after the Massonis retired in 1995 before selling the flourishing Massoni Home brand in 2000.
Ian continued to mentor many young winemakers. Apart from his immense achievements, it is by the sharing of his knowledge, experience and passion for wine that his friends and acquaintances will remember him.
He loved the people who made up the Australian wine industry. He mentored young guns (and now industry stalwarts) such as Gary Farr, Rick Kinzbrunner, Bruce Tyrrell, Gary Baldwin, David Jones, Neil Robb and, more recently, Tony and Michael Lee of Foxeys Hangout.
Every restaurateur in Melbourne knew Ian as a customer and a friend. The who's who of Australian and international winegrowers knew and admired him.
Yellowglen is the largest sparkling wine brand in the country but (sadly) Ian was not acknowledged as its founder until Treasury Wine Estates reconnected with him in 2012. As Yellowglen's brand ambassador, Ian gave counsel to its winemakers and today's premium Yellowglens all bear his signature and Home family crest.
While wine was the focus of Ian's life, he was also involved in his community, devoting much energy to the Ballarat Ys Mens Club and the Ballarat Light Car Club in his younger days.
For his efforts in the establishment of Sovereign Hill Ian was awarded life membership and he was a major benefactor of the Ballarat Art Gallery.
Ian Home died at the age of 87. He was an extraordinary man. He was a man of ambition, vision and commitment.
A charming tribute from his friends at the Probus Club of Main Ridge states: "Ian had presence. When he spoke, people listened. He held strong views on standards and protocols that should be observed. Mediocrity was not a concept he embraced."
Ian Home is survived by his wife Sue, three daughters, Jenny Rizzo, Barbara Murphy and Claire Jelbart and six grandchildren.
IAN HOME
Winemaker
9-3-1929 - 8-5-2016