North Carolina’s Daughter-and-Dad Wine Power Team
Longtime Riverbench Winery Mastermind Laura Booras Returns Home to Run Freedom Beverage
Laura Booras and Tim Booras, the father-daughter team behind North Carolina's Freedom Beverage. | Credit: William Fernandez
Growing up, Laura Booras remembers traveling with her dad around North Carolina as he sold wines for American Premium Beverage, the company that Tim Booras cofounded right out of college in 1973.
“It was the days of Mateus and Blue Nun,” said Laura, who still has a Blue Nun t-shirt from when she was a baby. “I would follow my dad around the grocery store. My job was to dust off bottles on the shelves, and pull bottles to the front and push competitors to the back.”
She too entered the wine industry after college, moving to Santa Barbara County in 2004 “to go out and learn the business and get my hands dirty.” She worked for Consilience, Zaca Mesa, and then, in 2007, was hired as the brand manager for Riverbench Winery. Though a prominent Santa Maria Valley vineyard since 1973, the owners wanted to start a wine label. Booras spearheaded that mission, with the help of vineyard manager Jim Stollberg and, later, consulting winemaker Clarissa Nagy.
