“Most people don’t know how special we are,” explains Libbie Agran, co-author with Heather Muran of the new book San Luis Obispo County Wine: A World-Class History . “I wanted people to realize there had been a long history of very talented people here, because Prohibition didn’t destroy our wine industry,” she said, pointing to the many pioneer families who still have ties to the region today. “We have a consistency that most counties don’t have.”
The 190-page paperback — which is broken into numerous short but detailed chapters that go from the 1700s to today and are full of archival photographs — is the culmination of years of research that began when Agran founded the Wine History Project of San Luis Obispo County in 2015. She met weekly with vintners and other experts in the region’s agricultural history for a year; compiled a list of 202 significant people, places, milestones, and events; and worked for two years on a timeline.
“There was an interesting story to tell, and I was surprised that no one had written it, except in fragments,” said Agran. “We had to figure out who had shaped the history and what their footprints were.”