Barry H. Sterling

1929 - 2020

October 25, 1929 - July 26, 2020 Barry Sterling, the co-founder of Iron Horse Vineyards, renowned for Sparkling Wines that have been served at the White House for six Presidential Administrations, has died of natural causes at his home in Sebastopol, California. He was 90. "We feel very lucky that we were all able to be home with him," said daughter Joy Sterling.Born on Black Friday October 25, 1929, Barry had a momentous and exciting life. He was a prominent attorney, though he was a vintner longer than he had practiced law, world traveler, politically active, collector of art and antiquities, philanthropist, handsome and charming raconteur, master gardener, a perfect gentleman, loving husband, and great father. He cut a dashing figure living in Paris in the 1960s with his young family and was always very debonair. A Los Angeles native and Stanford alumnus '50, JD'52, he graduated law school in the same class with William Rehnquist and Sandra Day O'Connor, passed the bar, was inducted into the army and married Audrey Shapiro all in one weekend. Chief Justice Rehnquist was first in the class, Justice O'Connor third and Barry, eleventh out of 114. August 30 would have been Audrey and Barry's 68th wedding anniversary.He served in the Judge Advocate General's Corps in Washington, D.C., and assisted the Department of Defense's legal staff during the McCarthy Senate hearings. Their daughter Joy was born in Washington. The Sterlings returned to Los Angeles, where Barry opened a corporate law firm and soon their son Laurence was born. The couple became engaged in Democratic politics. Both were founding members of the Los Angeles Music Center and the Los Angeles Art Museum. In 1963, Audrey was appointed by Gov. "Pat" Brown to serve on the California Fair Employment Practice Commission. She spent almost four years fighting discrimination in employment and housing.For Barry's 30th birthday, Audrey gave him his first trip to Europe. He fell in love with France and vowed to live there. It took him eight years.The family moved to France in 1967, where they led a glamorous life, splitting time between a belle epoch apartment on Avenue Foch in Paris and a villa in the hills above Cannes. Their years in France, traveling to the various wine regions, sparked the idea of living on a vineyard, growing grapes, and making wine. The vision was always a "chateau model", dedicated to producing estate bottled wine. The Sterlings first saw Iron Horse in a driving rainstorm in 1976 with the vineyard development only partially completed. There was no winery and the 19th century carpenter gothic house was dramatically listing to one side. Nevertheless, after a taste of wines made from Iron Horse grapes, they knew their search had ended and a dream begun.The winery opened in 1979, on Barry's 50th birthday; the first vintage of Sparkling Wines arrived the next year. Iron Horse vintage Blanc de Blancs was served at the Reagan-Gorbachev Summit Meetings, ending the cold war, a White House tradition that has continued for 35 years. Iron Horse produces a special cuvée with National Geographic called Ocean Reserve, that supports ocean conservation as well as a limited production, vintage Brut called Gratitude that benefits the Redwood Empire Food Bank.There will be no funeral services. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you contribute to the charity of your choice, or Memorial Hospice In Santa Rosa.