(SLO) - The San Luis Obispo County wine industry had a total economic impact of $1.9 billion in 2015, according to a study released Thursday. That’s 6.5 percent of the county’s gross regional product.

The study, conducted by the University of California Agricultural Issues Center at UC Davis, found that wineries and wine grape growers generated a total of 13,627 jobs last year earning $388 million in wages. What’s more, wine-related tourism brought in expenditures of $194 million.

Christopher Taranto, communications director for the Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance, said the study will serve to set basic benchmarks for the local wine industry.

The UC Davis study was primarily funded and managed by the alliance, with support from the San Luis Obispo Wine Country Association, the San Luis Obispo County Agricultural Commissioner’s office, the Economic Vitality Corporation of San Luis Obispo County, Visit San Luis Obispo County and Heritage Oaks Bank, among other entities.

“For me and for others it confirms that it (wine) plays a very large role in the county,” said Michael Manchak, president and CEO of the Economic Vitality Corporation.

Chuck Davison, president and CEO of Visit San Luis Obispo County, declined to comment Thursday on the findings, saying he had not yet a chance to look at the report.

The UC Davis study looked at wineries and wine grape growers in the Paso Robles AVA(American Viticultural Area), and San Luis Obispo County as a whole, during a year when they dealt with “less-than-stellar yield” due to unusually cool and windy springtime weather as well as severe drought.

The study found that San Luis Obispo County wineries produced 20.4 million cases of wine in 2015, generating $732 million in revenue, while growers produced 127,367 tons of wine grapes valued at $297 million. (That’s contrary to annual crop statistics released in May by the San Luis Obispo County Department of Agriculture, which valued wine grapes at $146.4 million, making them the county’s second-leading crop last year.)

Local vineyards and wineries generated $54.9 million in state sales tax, 10 percent of the county total, and had total property tax assessments of $44.8 million, 28 percent of the county total, the UC Davis study found.