Gift includes $250,000 to support archiving and access to the collection, plus documentaries, oral histories, artwork, and artifacts from California’s Central Coast wine history. – By Sarah Colwell

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.

Libbie Agran with book and wine press
Wine historian Libbie Agran with her 2021 book, “San Luis Obispo County Wine: A World Class History,” and a model wine press used by traveling salesmen to demonstrate their presses to local wineries. Both are now part of the collection at UC Davis. (Credit: Sarah Colwell)
Libbie Agran with map of Spanish missions

Wine History Project founder Libbie Agran with a map of Spanish missions. The missions played a significant role in the early origins of winegrowing in California. (Credit: Sarah Colwell)

Agran and Lambert with educational poster

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. (Credit: Sarah Colwell) 

 

“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.

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Sarah Colwell is a freelance writer who specializes in serving higher education clients.