Laurence G. Sterling

Laurence is Iron Horse's "Operations Manager," a title which covers multiple responsibilities such as overseeing vineyard operations including our major replanting efforts, legal matters, and picking up the mail in the afternoon. He is also responsible for olive oil production. To celebrate his 40th birthday, the family gave him 140 olive trees.

In 1990 Laurence, along with his wife Terry and their children, returned to Iron Horse. They built a house overlooking the vineyards. Highlighting the importance of food and wine in their lives, their kitchen includes a 12-loaf brick and mortar indoor wood-fired oven.

Terry has continued her law practice on a full time basis in Santa Rosa. She also draws on her training and experience as an artist to provide Iron Horse with many of its graphics. She created all of the illustrations for Joy Sterling's, A Cultivated Life, and for the children's book, I Was Good to the Earth Today, as well as portraits of valued dogs, prized cattle and friends.

After attending Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service in Washington, D.C., and the Fordham University School of Law, Laurence became a corporate lawyer in Los Angeles specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He worked on many of the large "takeovers" of the eighties. Before college Laurence attended The Rugby School, one of England's oldest and most prestigious "public" schools. Before that, he lived with his family in Paris.

Laurence was a director of The Wine Institute, and chaired many of its sub-committees. He has also served on the U.S. Commerce Department's Industry Sector Advisory Council for Consumer Goods, appointed by Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor. In 2002, Laurence was appointed by Governor Gray Davis to the California Recreational Trails Committee. He is also past president of the board of the Redwood Empire Food Bank.

For his 50th birthday, he received a new tractor.

Read Laurence's Blog