News

RiverBank goes to City Wine

Published on June 6, 2018 in the Joondalup Weekender, Wanneroo Weekender and North Coast Weekender.

FANCY a glass of vermentino, petit verdot, fiano or nero d'Avola? 
These are some of the lesser known wines being made in the Swan Valley and the new winemak­er at RiverBank Estate, Digby Led­din, wants to persuade consumers to give them a try. 
After 20 years at Laments, Digby joined RiverBank under new owner­ship of the Lembo family, inheriting llha of vineyard with 13 varieties of grapes. 
While the Swan Valley is known for producing and successfully pro­moting its verdelho and chenin blanc, Digby is keen to encourage customers to try some of the less well-known wines that flourish in the region. 
To do that, RiverBank is partici­pating in food and wine festivals for the very first time, making its debut with City Wine at the Perth Cultural Centre on June 8 and 9. 
"Most of our sales are going to be through cellar door so we need to get out and meet the public, retail­ers and wholesalers, anyone we can," Mr Leddin said. 
RiverBank will be promoting new labels and lines released in Septem­ber 2017: 'On The Run' and 'Rebel­lious'. The names are based around the now defunct Riverbank Deten­tion Centre next door to the winery at 126 Hamersley Road, Caversham. 
With the RiverBank cellar door focusing on alternative varieties, Rebellious aims to showcase wines that are not quite mainstream like vermentino, fiano, nero d'Avola, and a new label may soon be in the works to cater to export demands for mainstream varieties like semil­lon sauvignon, shiraz and cabernet. The Run will be offering a newly bottled sweet rose, a chardonnay semillon verdelho blend, a cabernet 
merlot blend and a non-vintage bubbles blend, while Rebellious in­cludes a verdelho, a trophy-winning vermentino from Blackwood for Best WA Alternate White, and a top­selling rose blend made last year despite floods to 60 per cent of the vineyard. 
City Wine will celebrate five years of bringing leading WA bou­tique wineries to the heart of Perth when the two-day festival runs at the Urban Orchard on June 8 and 9. 
As well as wine, beverages from 27 stalls will include craft beer, cider and spirits and a sparkling drinks bar. 
And for those who fancy a cock­tail there will be a Mojito Bar. Tapas style food will be avail­able.

Lifeline Charity Brunch

Published in The Sunday Times Magazine on 25th March 2018

It was a day of milestones at this year’s Aspinall Family Lifeline Brunch held in the backyard of Vince and Anne Garreffa’s Mount Lawley home, with Vince putting his signature ponytail on the chopping block for charity. Mineral Commodities executive chairman Mark Caruso paid $6000 to chop the lock off with a meat cleaver and Marilyn New forked out $1000 to watch. All up, the snip raised $19,000, adding to the whopping $452,000 raised on the day and the $3 million since the event’s inception 22 years ago.
Di Bauwens

Liquor Barons success!

Liquor Barons group recently chose our Vermentino in a blind tasting panel and its feature in On The Vine Magazine and website for 2018.

Almost every winery submitted their wines so it was a nice compliment and feels great to be noticed. This Vermentino also beat all the great southern wineries to win Gold and a Trophy in the Geographe Show. Our wines are now in almost every liquor barons across Western Australia.

Swan Valley winery RiverBank Estate defies nature to win gold

Published on  Saturday, 2 December 2017 in The West Australian

RiverBank was bought by the Lembo family as a “last-minute purchase” in January.

Eric Lembo, an investor who holds an equal share in the business with parents Anthony and Pina, said they saw great potential in the 10.9ha vineyard with almost 30-year-old vines producing low-yielding fruit, carrying more than 15 varieties.

Although flooding two weeks after they took ownership wiped out 60 per cent of their harvest-ready crop, the family refused to be defeated and acquired grapes from across WA. They appointed Digby Leddin, who was senior winemaker for the Lamont family, and launched three ranges, the entry-level On the Run, mid-range Rebellious and premium Eric Anthony range.

RiverBank has this year collected 24 awards for its new wines, the biggest achievement being the Top Gold and Trophy at the Geographe Wine Show for its 2017 Vermentino.

Mr Lembo said the family planned to develop wholesale and export markets and had won a contract in Azerbaijan.

“Meanwhile, a major renovation to the restaurant has contributed to a major increase in patronage, and wedding and event functions,” he said.

RiverBank also won the 2017 Catering Institute of Australia Gold Plate Award for a Restaurant Within a Winery.

“The fact we all got along helped the decision to purchase RiverBank. We worked so well together at Caversham House that we decided to continue in business together.”

Mr Lembo said his family purchased Caversham House in 1998, His father, a mathematics high school teacher and mother, a cake decorator running Avanti Cakes, were initially the major shareholders. Eric was the general manager and his parents helped run the business on top of working their full-time jobs.

In 2000, after Eric profited from a successful property development venture, he reinvested the funds back into Caversham House, becoming an equal partner with his parents at just 24 years old.

“We all worked seven days a week to build the business up to what it is today,” he said.

“The fact we all got along helped the decision to purchase RiverBank. We worked so well together at Caversham House that we decided to continue in business together.”

Caversham House this year won the Gold Plate for Venue Caterer 2017, marking the third consecutive year of winning the category.

The win means Caversham House was awarded the prestigious 2017 Prix D’Honneur and the family has been inducted into the Gold Plate Hall of Fame.

 

Eric Lembo breaks into the International market

Eric Lembo, the Director of RiverBank Estate made news this week by making a deal to sell his wine to the International market. This is a huge accomplishment for RiverBank Estate! 

Published on November 23, 2017 in The West Australian in the West Business Insider.

Selling wine to Azerbaijan is a bit like selling ice to Eskimos, given the country is sometimes referred to as the cradle of wine. Its wine industry dates back to the second millennium BC, making it the second oldest wine-producing region in the world. 

But Eric Lembo, owner of the Swan Valley's award-winning Riverbank Estate, pulled off the seemingly impossible feat during the trade mission to Baku. 
Lembo struck a handshake deal for his wine to be sold in local restaurants through a major hospitality supplier. 
Although he declines to name the supplier, the deal is announced to much fanfare on the final night of the trade mission. 
Amazingly, Lembo did not have any samples of his wine during the trade mission but managed to strike the deal based on the rapport he built with locals and his label's stack of trophies and medals. 
Lembo believes that personal rapport is important in business in Azerbaijan, much like China's guanxi system - in which building a solid personal relationship is vital before financial transactions can take place. 
"A lot of business here appears to be based on trust," he says.