Myfriends@roxyann

The stats helper monkeys at WordPress.com mulled over how this blog did in 2010, and here’s a high level summary of its overall blog health:

The Blog-Health-o-Meter™ reads This blog is doing awesome!.

Crunchy numbers

The Leaning Tower of Pisa has 296 steps to reach the top. This blog was viewed about 1,100 times in 2010. If those were steps, it would have climbed the Leaning Tower of Pisa 4 times

In 2010, there were 11 new posts, growing the total archive of this blog to 39 posts. There were 15 pictures uploaded, taking up a total of 5mb. That’s about a picture per month.

The busiest day of the year was May 19th with 33 views. The most popular post that day was Notes from the RoxyAnn Wine Club Manager.

Where did they come from?

The top referring sites in 2010 were roxyann.com, facebook.com, theoregonwineblog.com, culinarytravelsofakitchengoddess.wordpress.com, and blog.winerywebsitereport.com.

Some visitors came searching, mostly for play button, roxy ann bowen, button play, play button image, and international eastern wine competition.

Attractions in 2010

These are the posts and pages that got the most views in 2010.

Notes from the RoxyAnn Wine Club Manager May 2010
1 comment

Select Mobile Bottlers bottles 2008 Pinot gris June 2009

Hillcrest Growers & Craft Market June 2009
3 comments

Tuna-turned-salad | Crescent City California News, Sports, & Weather | The Triplicate September 2009

International Eastern Wine Competition Results June 2009

We get a lot of questions in the Tasting Room; questions on wine, the vineyard, where does the name RoxyAnn come from (see entry below) and, of course,  where does the name Claret come from?

First things first… The term Claret is an English term, from approximately the 1400’s, to describe a Bordeaux blend (any combination of Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet franc, Petite Verdot, Malbec and Carmenère).  The 2007 RoxyAnn Claret is a blend of Cab Sauv, Merlot, Cab franc and Malbec.

For our golf fans, this week is the week of the British Open.  The Open is played for the Claret Jug.  Research revealed some great history of the Jug.  Here  is the entry reprinted from About.com:Golf

Origins of the Claret Jug

How the Claret Jug Came to Be the British Open Trophy

By Brent Kelley, About.com Guide

http://golf.about.com/od/historyofgolf/a/claretjug.htm

“Why is the British Open trophy called the “Claret Jug,” and what is it’s history?The trophy awarded to the winner of The Open Championship is officially known as the Championship Cup, but it is much more commonly called the “Claret Jug” because, well, it’s a claret jug.

Claret is a dry red wine produced in the famous French winemaking region of Bordeaux. The British Open trophy was made in the style of silver jugs used to serve claret at 19th Century gatherings.

But the winner of The Open Championship hasn’t always received the Claret Jug as the trophy. The first handful of winners were awarded a belt. That’s right, a belt. Or “Challenge Belt,” as it was designated at the time.

The first Open Championship was played in 1860 at Prestwick (now called Royal Prestwick, it’s in Troon, Scotland, just down the road from Royal Troon), and that year also marked the first awarding of the belt.

The belt was made of a wide, red Morocco leather and was adorned with silver buckles and emblems. This (seemingly) gaudy “trophy” might still be the British Open trophy today but for the golfing prowess of Young Tom Morris.

Prestwick hosted each of the first 11 British Opens, awarding the belt each year, which the winner would have to return to the club. But Prestwick’s rules included one that stated that the belt would become the permanent property of any golfer winning the Open Championship in three consecutive years.

When Young Tom Morris won in 1870, it was his third straight victory (he would win a fourth in 1872) and he walked off with the Challenge Belt.

Suddenly, the British Open no longer had a trophy to award. And Prestwick didn’t have the wherewithal to commission one on its own.

So the club members at Prestwick came up with the idea of sharing the Open Championship with the Royal & Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews and the Honourable Company of Edinburgh Golfers. Prestwick proposed that the three clubs take turns staging the Open, and chip-in equally toward the creation of a new trophy.

While the clubs tried to figure out what to do, 1871 came and went without an Open Championship being played. Finally, the clubs agreed to share the Open, and each contributed money for a new trophy.

When Young Tom Morris won the 1872 Open, the trophy had not yet been commissioned. So the 1873 winner – Tom Kidd – was the first to be awarded the Claret Jug.

That original Claret Jug from 1873 has permanently resided at the R&A since 1927. The trophy that is presented to the British Open winner each year is a copy of the original, which the winner gets to keep for a year before returning it to the R&A to be passed on to the next champion.”

The British Open Championship Cup

A bottle of RoxyAnn Claret

ioneer John Bowen settled the land where Hillcrest Orchard is located in 1853. In 1868 Bowen sold his property to Jesse Richardson who also purchased an adjoining donation land claim to the west from Amos Blue.  William H. Stewart, whose father Joseph Stewart developed the region’s first commercial orchard in the late 1880s, bought the tract composed of land from the Bowen and Blue claims in 1889 and planted apple and pear trees. In 1903, William Stewart sold to Julian W. Perkins, of Portland, Oregon. Perkins named his orchard “Hillcrest” and built a new residence on Hillcrest Road.  Five years later, Hillcrest caught the attention of Reginald Hascall Parsons who purchased the orchard and whose family continues to maintain the property today.

During Hillcrest Orchard’s early years workers watered the trees from a horse-drawn tank wagon until irrigation district water became available in the 1920s. Through the same period, crews used horses and mules to operate farming equipment. As trees came into bearing at Hillcrest Orchard, employees picked the fruit and hauled it to the railroad in Medford for shipment back East. Reginald Parsons organized the Pinnacle Packing Company, for which a building was built in 1917. For years, Hillcrest sold fruit to Pinnacle, one of the major fruit packing houses in Medford. Mr. Parsons remained a co-owner of the packing company until his death. In later years, Southern Oregon Sales (S.O.S), a local agricultural cooperative begun in 1926, packed Hillcrest pears for shipment as well as fruit from other orchards.  In New York and other large cities brokers sold the fruit at auctions.  Both domestic and European purchasers bought Hillcrest pears and apples from these busy centers.

During the Depression and World War II years the Parsons family retained their employees and kept the fruit trees in healthy condition. By 1938, Reginald Parsons had gradually removed all the apple trees and replaced them with pears since the latter were more profitable. As the older pear trees declined in production, workers replaced them with new stock. Today, some of the orchard’s earliest pear trees remain standing, producing Hillcrest “century pears.”

Widely recognized for its architectural and historic significance, Hillcrest Orchard was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. The eleven historic buildings included on the Register and their construction dates are: