We are committed to fine wine. We are also lovers of nature the outdoors and conserving, protecting and limiting damage done to wildlife and our environment. We have many wine projects, and whenever possible, we like to partner with worthwhile environmental projects.
1. Karner Blue
We donate a portion of our proceeds from the Karner Blue wine label to like minded not for profit organizations that meet our tough scrutiny. They must be efficient, and they must be helping our label mascot, the rare and beautiful Karner Blue butterfly that you see adorning our literature, and the delicate Blue Lupine, the butterfly's only food source during the larval stage.
The Karner Blue
Lycaeides melissa samuelis, is a small, blue butterfly found in the Capital District region of New York. The butterfly, whose lifecycle depends on the wild blue lupine flower (Lupinus perennis), is classified as an endangered species. In May 2000, the Canadian Species at Risk Act listed the Karner Blue as being extirpated (locally extinct) in Canada. This subspecies of Lycaeides melissa was described by novelist Vladimir Nabokov. It is sometimes placed in the genus Plebejus.
Local conservation efforts, concentrating on replanting large areas of blue lupine which have been lost to development (and to fire suppression, which destroys the open, sandy habitat required by blue lupine), are having modest success at encouraging the butterfly's repopulation. The Karner Blue is the official state butterfly of New Hampshire. The Necedah National Wildlife Refuge in central Wisconsin is home to the world's largest population of Karner Blues, which benefit from its vast area of savannah and extensive lupine.
The Karner Blue was first identified and named by novelist and lepidopterist Vladimir Nabokov. The name originates from Karner, New York (located half-way between Albany and Schenectady) in the Albany Pine Bush, where it was first discovered. Lupine blooms in late May. There are two generations of Karner Blues per year. The first in late May to mid June. The second from mid-July to mid-August.
Thanks to Wikipedia for the preceding information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karner_Blue