Published: December 27, 2007 08:52 am      

Helping Hummers

Birding with Jerry Hall

There are lots of ways to financially support our feathered friends — buying a duck stamp or joining the National Audubon Society are a couple of ideas that come to mind.

There’s also a unique way to support endangered hummingbirds that really appeals to me — buy a bottle of good wine. That’s right, just order a bottle of wine from Clos LaChance Winery in San Martin, Calif. They’ve teamed up with the Hummingbird Society so proceeds from the sale of certain wines will go to save threatened hummer species.

Their first effort was on behalf of the critically endangered Juan Fernandez firecrown, found only in Chile on Robinson Crusoe Island. More than $20,000 was raised in 2006 for funding programs to save the firecrown.

Latest bird to benefit from the winery’s “Threatened Species” Hummingbird Series is the Honduran emerald. This hummer lives only in the Central American country of Honduras within a highly fragmented range that is declining due to habitat loss. Without help, it will almost certainly become extinct.

I recently visited the winery’s website, www.clos.com and looked under “Hummingbird Series.” Sure enough, the Honduran emerald wine, a 2005 meritage red, was available, assuming my postal zip code was one permitting wine to be shipped to me. Texas must permit such shipments because my order went right through and in just a few days, the wine was delivered. (I had to sign for it and testify I was of legal age.)

According to a flyer which came with the wine, grapes for my particular vintage were hand-picked, hand-sorted, de-stemmed then “cold soaked” in tank for 24-48 hours prior to initiation of fermentation. The wine aged approximately 18 months in 40 percent new French oak barrels prior to being bottled this past August. The resulting product has “aromas of warm blackberry cobbler with currant, black plum, fresh earth, herb, cedar and a hint of anise.” Flavors include “black cherry, blackberry, plum, mocha, spice and mineral with rips, firm tannin on the finish.”

I’m not sure what all that means – never heard of “rips” — but I can assure you it is a very satisfying wine, both from a taste standpoint and a feeling you have helped in a small way to save a hummingbird. (About 10 percent of the 328 known hummer species are threatened with possible extinction.)

The 80-acre Clos LaChance Winery has the hummingbird as its symbol, chosen because of the birds’ beauty and also because they help keep insects out of the vineyards. The winery's grapes were planted in 1999, with almost 20 varietals going in the ground. The meritage wine is a combination of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, cabernet franc, petite verdot and malbec.

According to the bottle label, only 7,500 bottles of the Honduran emerald selection were made. Since I now have one, there are at most 7499 left. Hurry.

And if wine is not your thing, you can still help save at-risk hummingbirds by directly supporting the Hummingbird Society. For information on this organization, visit www.hummingbirdsociety.org or call 800 529-3699.