Meet Our Team

Meet the Team

  • Lucy Clements

    Chief Executive Officer

    With over 24 years in industry, Lucy's career as a winemaker, international wine buyer and wine business manager has seen her live and work in 4 different continents for esteemed businesses such as Tesco, Sainsbury's, Coles, Accolade Wines and Champagne Taittinger. This international exposure and deep experience was a great foundation for her role as CEO role at Freestone Estate, commencing in late 2022, leading the business through a huge transformation from a large grower cooperative to family owned and estate focussed. 

  • Mel Kargas

    Chief Wine Maker

    Mel started her career in the wine industry over 20 years ago. She is passionate about making wine her way, producing generous, fruit forward wine styles that are well balanced and can be enjoyed with or without food. Having been awarded many medals for her wines over the years, Mel continues to push herself by exploring new varieties and winemaking techniques that highlight the strengths of the Riverland.
    Whilst Mel has worked in different wine regions in Australia as well as overseas over the past 2 decades, her heart has always led her back to the Riverland.

  • Ben Rowntree

    Winery Manager

    Ben began his wine industry career back in 2003 as a vintage cellar hand at Stonehaven in the south east of South Australia. From there he went to California to experience a vintage at the historic SIMI Winery in Healdsburg and has been involved in the wine industry ever since. Ben has had various roles within the industry, including Cellar Hand, Filtration Technician and Cellar Manager at the beautiful Hardy's Tintara winery in McLaren Vale. Ben then became the Freestone Estate Winery Manager in 2025 and is using his extensive operations knowledge and experience to drive efficiency and quality gains, and to lead Freestone Estate into an exciting new chapter.