The Grape Label Stories Project

The Grape Label Stories project started taking shape in the tiny office of a fertilizer company, Tulare Ag Products, in the early 1990’s. The owner of the company, Carl Gwilliam, had been working in the ag industry for several years and had acquired a couple of grape labels from companies he’d worked with, or that he thought had a cool design. By the early 90’s, the use of traditional grape labels on wooden boxes had mostly been replaced by other forms of packaging, but many “leftover” labels were easy to come by. But the best part about a label, to him, wasn’t the piece of paper he had pinned to his bulletin board: it was the story behind it. Every person who gave him a label gave him the story that went with it: where the brand name came from, who chose the design for the label, and what made that brand of grapes unique. These stories not only brought the labels to life, but were a small slice of farming history in California. The stories behind grape labels include a rich glimpse into farming and life in the early-mid 1900’s, including ag innovation, immigration, taking risks, family , friends, and the American Dream. Through the years as he collected more labels, he became determined to help capture the stories as well. This has become the Grape Label Stories project.

“We love hearing about your stories and appreciate you sharing them here with our entire community. Whether you worked for or with these companies, or your parents did, or you remember seeing the grape labels in the stores or fields back in the day – we are happy to provide a place for that memory to be shared. We do this because it’s fascinating and a lot of fun, and also to help give back to and honor the industry that has supported many generations of hard working people”.

Carl and his family continue to lead this project by inviting everyone in the ag industry and larger community to share and document their grape label stories.