In addition to household chores, Matt and Karen Meyer share the winemaking duties at Meyer Family Cellars. They may spend most of their waking time together now, but they arrived at this point in their careers having followed very different paths.
Matt Meyer
From an early age, Matt's goal was to be a winegrower like his father Justin. He spent much of his time in the vineyard and cellar at Silver Oak after school and working various jobs during the summer. Matt spent a couple years gaining experience at internships in Oregon, Australia and New Zealand. He also did one semester abroad at Adelaide University enrolled in this wine studies program. The passion he developed for wine led him to the University of California, Davis, where he was awarded a Masters in Viticulture. After this he moved to the Anderson Valley and started making wine with his father at the family’s new property.
Karen Meyer
Karen was born and raised in Perth, Western Australia. After doing a harvest in Margaret River to learn more about the process, she was hooked on wine. She completed a degree in enology at Charles Stuart University, then spent the next few years working harvests around the world. Karen worked in the four distinct regions of Australia, did one harvest in France and spent three years in New Zealand. In 1999 Matt and Karen met in Oregon while working the crush in the Willamette Valley. In 2004 they would work together again in New Zealand after which point Karen moved to the Anderson Valley.
Today they live with their three children in Healdsburg California halfway between their vineyards in the Napa and Anderson Valleys.