Wine History Project donates collections, artifacts, and oral histories to safeguard San Luis Obispo County’s winemaking heritage
NORTH COUNTY — The UC Davis Library — home to the world’s most comprehensive wine research collection — is now the steward of a unique archive donated by Central Coast wine historian Libbie Agran and the Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County. The donation, which includes $250,000 to support long-term preservation and access, ensures that the stories, culture and contributions of one of California’s most distinctive wine regions will be shared with generations of students, scholars and thousands who live and work in wine regions throughout California.
“What drew me in was the land,” Agran said of San Luis Obispo. “This landscape has a soul. The way the soil, climate and people come together here — it’s completely unique. That’s what terroir is about.”
Established by Agran in 2015, the Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County functions as a “living museum” — producing exhibits at wineries and festivals, reviving historic wine traditions and preserving oral histories. In recognition of the project’s significance, Agran will receive a Wine Lifetime Achievement Award from the San Luis Obispo County wine industry at the Mid-State Fair in Paso Robles on July 18.
Agran’s work has also ignited an interest in Mission-era grape varietals and brought to light long-overlooked stories of winemaking families, some of whom were unaware of their own ancestral ties to wine production.
“This gift is rooted not only in vineyards and bottles, but also in people and storytelling,” said Audrey Russek, who leads the UC Davis Library’s strategic initiatives around distinctive collections in food, wine and other beverages. “Libbie Agran’s vision aligns beautifully with our mission to preserve and share the world’s wine knowledge.”
The donation includes:
- A $250,000 gift to fund discovery, access and visibility of the collection
- Copyrights to Agran’s published books and 13 original documentaries
- Hundreds of oral histories, rare wine catalogs and works of art
- Artifacts and ephemera that chronicle the winemaking culture of San Luis Obispo County
Agran was inspired to make the gift in part because of the legacy of Napa Valley vintner Warren Winiarski, whose $3.3 million gift helped the UC Davis Library — which is widely recognized as the world’s greatest wine library — develop its collections on wine writers. She also sees this donation as a model for other winegrowing regions to preserve their unique stories and contribute to a statewide effort to document the diverse histories of California wine.
“Each region has its own terroir — its own flavor, its own voice,” she said. “I want this to inspire other communities to preserve their history while it’s still possible.”
The Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County archive is being processed and will be made available for research, study, and instruction at a future date.
About The Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County
The Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County preserves and presents two centuries of viticulture through research, interviews, exhibitions, films, publications, and works with local vintners and growers to bring to life the wine history of San Luis Obispo County. By working together with our community, we can preserve the story of Central Coast winemaking.
Feature Image: Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County founder Libbie Agran and curator and collections manager Cindy Lambert hold up an example of interpretive content they have developed as part of the “museum without walls” they established across the local wine region. Photo by Sarah Colwell
