She left Wine Country after her fiancé's murder. Now she owns the winery they dreamed of running
Karen Francis DeGolia quietly purchased Limerick Lane Cellars in 2022, nearly 30 years after the winery's founder, her former fiancé, was killed. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
In summer 1993, Karen Francis DeGolia had an idyllic life. She was 31 and living part-time in Wine Country with her fiancé, Tom Collins, a firefighter and the owner of a charming winery known for making old-vine Zinfandel, Limerick Lane Cellars.
"It sounds pretty perfect. My friends were jealous," DeGolia said. "But the universe had a different plan."
Two weeks after she and Collins brought in that year's harvest, his father shot and killed him in a murder-suicide. Collins' brother and business partner, Michael, who once said the tragedy occurred in a "fit of rage," became the owner of the winery.
"I felt that I had this beautiful movie playing, then someone took the scissors and cut the film, and all of a sudden, the screen went white," Degolia said.
Heartbroken, Degolia left California and started over. She moved to Nashville, then Detroit, becoming one of few female executives in the automobile industry. By 34, she was the general manager of Oldsmobile, an $8 billion division of General Motors. "I worked really hard to shut out the pain," she said.
Now, more than 30 years after Tom's death, DeGolia is married, back in Healdsburg and running the winery she thought she left behind.
In 2022, DeGolia quietly purchased Limerick Lane from its longtime owner and fifth-generation winemaker Jake Bilbro, who bought the winery from Michael in 2012 and owns the canned wine brand Revelshine.
DeGolia admits her timing "could have been better." Within months of the sale, the wine industry began to slip into an unprecedented downturn. For more than 40 years, Limerick Lane, located 10 minutes from downtown Healdsburg, has flown under the radar, and DeGolia is now "working harder than expected" to give the winery an edge to survive.
Limerick Lane Cellars is located in the famed Russian River Valley wine region, but specializes in old-vine Zinfandel rather than the traditional Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
In 2004, after nine years in Detroit, DeGolia decided she was ready to return to California. Michael Collins invited her to become his partner at the winery, and she spent months learning every aspect of the business. Ultimately, however, it wasn't the right fit, she said. She walked away from the winery a second time and moved to San Francisco to work as the CEO of an advertising agency.
But Limerick Lane - the rural road in the northeastern corner of the Russian River Valley region and the winery's namesake - kept pulling her back. In 2005, she purchased the Ricci Vineyard, a 10-acre plot with a home and Zinfandel vines planted in 1947, next door to the winery.
Grape growing remained DeGolia's side hustle while running a tech company in Silicon Valley and serving on several corporate boards. In 2012, Michael, who was battling cancer, sold the winery to Bilbro. "It didn't cross either of our minds that I'd buy it," she said.
Because she owned the vineyard next door, DeGolia got to know Bilbro over the years. "In my head, I always said, ‘If I ever want to sell this vineyard, I'll just sell to him,'" she said.
In 2021, DeGolia and her husband, Rick, bought another house with another vineyard on Limerick Lane as a vacation rental. Soon after, she learned that the winery was for sale. DeGolia called Bilbro, who had moved his family out of state. The property was already under exclusive contract, which prohibited him from entertaining other offers. "I told myself it wasn't meant to be," she said.
Two weeks later, Bilbro reached back out. The buyers had requested last-minute changes to the terms, which gave him an out. DeGolia remembers the conversation vividly: "He said, ‘Karen, I haven't slept for weeks because this should be yours. I think my role for the last 10 years has been keeping it until you're ready to come back.'"
In early 2022, almost 30 years after Tom Collins' death, DeGolia was the new owner of Limerick Lane Cellars.
"Tom & Karen 1993," which the couple carved into concrete at the winery while building it. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
At first glance, the modest winery hasn't changed much since Tom's passing. One can still make out "Tom & Karen 1993" carved into the concrete foundation.
It's also still an anomaly. Set within the Russian River, Limerick Lane is located in Pinot and Chardonnay country, but the winery doesn't produce either. The property is surrounded by old, craggy Zinfandel vines, some dating back to 1910; the Russian River area was dominated by Zinfandel through the early 1900s, with roughly 2,000 acres, but is now down to just a few hundred following the rise of Californian Pinot Noir. Zinfandel is what DeGolia remains committed to - even though sales of the varietal, often criticized for being too big and ripe, have taken a hit. In 2024, U.S. Zinfandel sales were down nearly 14% from 2023, according to Silicon Valley Bank's wine industry report.
Winemaker Chris Pittenger has a background in Pinot Noir, allowing him to take a lighter approach to Zinfandel, which he said, "doesn't need to get pushed to the limits."
Chris Pittenger, the winemaker at Limerick Lane Cellars, stands in the estate's old Zinfandel vines, which date back to 1910. (Santiago Mejia/S.F. Chronicle)
"We're staying with Zin. We know how to make it in a way that's elegant and lovely and beautiful," DeGolia said. "Once people experience our Zinfandel, they understand that it's not all the same."
Limerick is also experimenting with Rhones, like Syrah, Grenache and a white blend of Viognier and Grenache Blanc. For now, it's Limerick Lane's only white wine, but as high-acid, aromatic white wines continue to outperform reds, DeGolia and Pittenger are working on several more. They've planted Vermentino and Chenin Blanc, and later this year, they'll plant Italian grape Fiano, which is rare in California. "We like being rebels," she said.
DeGolia is leaning on her marketing background to attract more people to the property, including renting out both houses for stays and small events. (One even has a pool shaped like a wine bottle, which she and Tom installed in 1993.) "Rustic" tastings, starting at $40, typically take place steps from the vines, and guests can add a picnic or olive oil tasting.
DeGolia offers an annual golf and wine trip that includes a round at Mayacama with herself and Pittenger, and she is planning a two-night grape stomp harvest experience. This year, she'll bring more than 200 people out to the property for corporate retreats. She's also hitting the road for intimate dinner parties across the country in cities like Nashville, where she recently sold 10 cases of wine at a 20-person event.
None of this was likely part of Tom's business plan, DeGolia said, but the vision is the same.
"When people leave here," she said, "we want them to feel like they got to experience it, not that they were just a visitor."
