Confession time. I’m not a “wine person”. The Sonoma County Wine Library has only been an abstract concept in my mind. Truthfully, I had no idea what or where it was. Until tonight, when I literally walked into it quite by accident while searching for new and interesting reads.
Most of you are way ahead of me on this one; the fact that the entire back portion (which I hadn’t even noticed before, sorry to say) of our Healdsburg library is the Sonoma County Wine Library-- a collection of 5,000 books on wine and related subjects including a wonderful assemblage of oral histories on well known local vintners, many of whom are still living. The Wine Librarian, Bo Simons, is apparently well known to just about everyone but me. The Wine Library contains four specific collection areas: the science and technology of winemaking, the economics of the wine industry, the worldwide history of wine, and local wine history. There are also old and rare books dating back to 1512 which are understandably kept under lock and key. It’s a vast and comprehensive resource which we are lucky to have within walking distance right down the street!
What was fun for me was to peruse the oral history section and see the names of several of the folks I have mentioned here on the blog or in my Neighbors column. Names such as Alyce Cadd, Susan Sheehy, Rose Demostene, Fred and Ruby Wasson and Norma Rafanelli Cousins. It hits me yet again--we live in a rare and wonderful place. A place where many of our neighbors are actual living history.
Check out the Wine Library as well as the Sonoma County Wine Oral Histories. Most certainly, you will find someone you know among them!
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