Wine Library of Sonoma County

The Sonoma County Wine Library has been curating an extensive collection of wine information since its inception within the Healdsburg Regional Library in 1988. Founded by Millie Howie, the special collection contains about 5,000 books on the subject of wine as well as access to over 80 wine journal titles. According to the library website, The Sonoma County Wine Library has four stated collecting areas:

• The science and technology of growing grapes and making wine
• The business and economics of the wine industry
• The history of wine worldwide
• The history of wine in Sonoma County

The library collection includes historical wine labels and oral histories of the wine industry by the library and other sources. Check out this bibliography of Oak in Winemaking. I found some pictures of the library collection on the blog, Along the Wine Road. Check out this post for more pictures of the library see the full post here:
A Wine Library? What!? Sign Me Up!


The library is supported by the active Wine Library Associates of Sonoma County. An article written in Metroactive in 2003 details some of the rare books in the collection. For those not able to visit the library in person, some of the collection resources are publicly available online. Check out the Online Historical Image collection. Also check out Wine Files, a database of wine information supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Millie Howie passed away in 2011 and the library is honoring her with a project to create the Millie Howie Courtyard. This special collection exists through support of the community it serves and is a great example of special collections developed and perpetuated through associations and involved organizations to serve a broad community of users. Wine lovers visiting the Sonoma region should definitely add a visit here to their list.