Karen was born and raised in Perth, located in western Australia, to parents who enjoyed good wine and owned a wine shop. While she was still in high school, her father sent her to a wine appreciation course so she could better assist in the wine shop. As she recalls, “we drank such great wines at home,” but also had tastings with her father as part of her education in the world of wine—she was underaged at the time! The tastings were mostly of Australian wines. “We thought we were sophisticated and high end,” Karen says.

Wine appreciation courses led to her fascination with the different ways the same varietal could be crafted, and the influence the winemaker could have on every step. She found that the wine industry held more of interest than the economics she was then studying at Murdock University in Perth. Nonetheless, she received her degree in economics in 1991, but the employment situation in the field was not good at the time; given her fascination with wine, Karen opted to work at a winery.

After a harvest in Margaret River, a small town south of Perth, she was hooked on winemaking. She completed a degree in enology at Charles Sturt University and then spent the next few years working harvests in New Zealand, France, and the U.S. Matt and Karen met in Oregon in 1999, while working the crush at Argyle Winery in the Willamette Valley. Matt was finishing his undergraduate degree at the University of California, Davis, at the time, and Karen was working harvests internationally.

Matt grew up in California and spent much of his time in the vineyard and cellar at Silver Oak Cellars, where his father, Justin Meyer, was the founder and winemaker. The passion he had developed for wine led him to continue his education at Davis, and he was awarded a Masters in Viticulture in 2002.

In addition to household chores and child-rearing, Karen and Matt share the winemaking duties at Meyer Family Cellars, a mid-sized family-owned winery; the winery opened in 2003, and Karen became the winemaker in 2004. They may spend most of their waking time together now, but as noted above, they arrived at this point in their careers having followed very different paths.

For decades, the Meyer family has created wines that express a sense of where its fruit has been grown. The winery is especially known for its Syrah, Port, and Bonny's Vineyard Cabernet Sauvignon, and their wines have received positive recognition. For example, the winery’s 2019 Le Bon Bon Cabernet Sauvignon was listed as a Wine Enthusiast (WE) Top 100 Cellar Selections and its 2013 High Ground Reserve Syrah was included in the 2024 WE Top 100 Wines.

At Meyer Family Cellars, Karen is more the winemaker and Matt the viticulturist but they work very closely together, and they love what they do. They live with their three children in Healdsburg, halfway between their vineyards in the Napa and Anderson Valleys.