Our Winemaker

Robert Bond is the winemaker at RiverBank Estate. His youth was spent on his family's grape property at Robinvale on the Murray River not far from Mildura where he was born. Robert and his partner Lyn Amery are the owners of RiverBank. Robert studied Medicine at Melbourne University before settling in Western Australia in 1970.

In 1996 Robert commenced studying winemaking at Charles Sturt University as a distance education student completing a degree in Applied Science in Wine Making in 1999.

Lyn Amery was born in Guildford. After graduating as a registered nurse and theatre sister, she set off to travel.  Arriving in London she was delighted to find that Aussie nurses were in great demand and that you could find your dream job and start work the next day.

Spring and autumn were spent working in London. Summer travelling Europe and winters skiing in Austria. This dream life lasted 5 years with a 9 month stopover in South Africa on the way home to WA. 

In 1991 they purchased the land which is now RiverBank Estate; at that point, the block was an un-loved cow paddock.  Over the next 5 years they established a vineyard that would ensure a self-sufficient supply of fruit, and a processing facility with all the necessary wine making equipment.  The final stage (never say never!) of development, the Wine Tourism facility, opened in July 2002.  This building also houses the new processing area.

Robert and Lyn have travelled extensively both in Australia and Western Europe looking at vineyard practices as well as winery design and operation. These experiences have led to modification of the winery layout and operation leading to improvement in the end product.