The main collection of the IWRDB contains over 47,000 citations of wine literature from around the world. The articles abstracted in the database cover topics of both local interest and general knowledge of the wine industry. The bulk of the collection was compiled between 1988-2012. The database began as a clippings file and many of the original clippings can still be accessed at the Sonoma County Wine Library. A significant number of the indexed articles are also available in full-text from the source publishers.

This index contains 29,000-plus citations that were compiled by historian Charles L. Sullivan from the newspapers, journals, and government documents he used in the years of researching his many books. The citations cover California wine history sources from 1849 to 1999 and are not bibliographically complete, but will potentially lead you to articles of interest. Daily Alta California and Pacific Wine and Spirit Review are two major sources Sullivan drew from and both can be found in the Internet Archive.