Product placements in movies have only become really popular in the last ten years—and now they are becoming blatantly obvious. The Sex and the City movie had about 10 different shots of Starbucks and Smart Water, to name a few. But with the rising costs of production, I am sure that these well-placed “ads” help defray some of the expenses (Sarah Jessica Parker’s fee, perhaps??) 

I always look hard when I see a movie at wine labels.  Most are hard to decipher…but there is one clear stand out that is immediately recognizable: Clos du Val’s light brown label with the white script swirls.  Over the past 5 years or so, Clos Du Val has been in tons of movies and television shows. However, I do wonder if the expense and effort to get into all these movies was worth it. Amongst wine people, the label is most certainly recognizable. But I think that is a small minority of the general movie-going population, especially considering some of the programming—“In Her Shoes” and “Joey” to name a few. Although they were also in “Fever Pitch,” which as a Red Sox and Jimmy Fallon fan, I LOVE that movie.

When I look deep down inside though, I am definitely jealous of Clos du Val and all their Hollywood connections. I would love for Clos LaChance to have some kind of celebrity encounter. There have been a couple brushes with fame over the years:

• We had a taping of a reality show here called “Married By America.” This is pretty D-list in terms of the show, it was really, really cheesy. And the segment never even aired. The premise of the show was that 14 pairs of two complete strangers got engaged. One ends up winning a wedding at the end plus 200K or something like that. The couple that came to the winery for their “date” were so NOT into each other at all. It was kind of comical. The production crew was awesome though. They had just come off of the Bachelor shoot….working with Andy Firestone (another big Winery promotional gig). 
• We once got word from a friend of a friend of Ron Howard’s that he was a big fan of our Merlot. That was thrilling for me because I am a HUGE fan of Arrested Development, his now defunct TV show. But I heard its coming back in a movie. Hey Ron, if you are out there, we would love to do a product placement in the movie. Maybe Gob can make a bottle disappear to the sounds of “The Final Countdown.” That show NEVER should have been cancelled.
• Our Southern California Account Specialist was in a restaurant selling one afternoon and sat right next to Hillary Swank. Since all of our sales people are very social people, she struck up a conversation and got her to taste our Pinot. We then sent her a few bottles.
• Bode Miller stopped by the winery after a round of golf last summer. He was super cute but not very talkative. We are all skiers in our family, so it was pretty cool to meet an Olympian.
• We sponsored the LA screening of “The Departed.” It was a little slow in terms of celeb being at the actual event…as most of them attended the New York screening the week before. I couldn’t go (it was my son’s birthday), but my sister Kristin went. She did have a Leo DiCaprio sighting. He was also supposedly drinking our Merlot.

Over the years, we have had rumors of other possible celeb drive-bys or connections to our winery/brand. I have learned to not get excited about them until I actually see it happen. But if anyone out there who is reading this is somewhat famous, please do contact us for, well, we’ll probably give you pretty much anything.

A picture of the Married By America Couple, Jennifer and Xavier.