Cliff Lede Vineyards/Poetry Inn
With Cliff Lede’s commitment to excellence, the constant construction activity and openings, new wines being released and two new brands to launch, and high profile members of the winemaking and viticultural team to promote, Charlotte Milan needed to deliver high profile, consistent media results that would brand Cliff Lede Vineyards, launch the Cliff Lede and Poetry brands, promote the Poetry Inn and Gallery, while ensuring that Cliff Lede’s wine story remained in the forefront.
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Melka Wines
In 1996, Philippe Melka, then an up-and-coming Napa winemaker, and his wife Cherie, began their own wine brand “Melka Wines”—focusing on the production of two Bordeaux wines: the flagship Métisse and an "everyday wine,” CJ, named after their children Chloe and Jeremy.
Over the ensuing 15 years, Philippe Melka’s winemaking star rose and he became known
as one of the top consulting winemakers. Robert Parker anointed him "one of the top
nine wine consultants in the world" in 2008, and in 2005, Food & Wine named him "winemaker of the year." He has consulted for some of Napa’s top wineries, including
Vineyard 29, Hundred Acre, Lail and Gemstone. In 2009 Melka received his first 100-
point score from Parker for the 2007 Dana Estate "Lotus Vineyard" cabernet sauvignon.
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Mayacama
Prestigious private golf clubs are marketing minefields, treacherous turf where even savvy pr strategists can meet unhappy ends. Major news outlets steer clear of such places (why cover destinations that their readers can’t experience?). At the same time, members themselves often shy away from exposure. Their clubs are sanctuaries, and they bristle at the idea of selling out.
Such were the woes of Mayacama, a stunning golf and lodging club in Sonoma County, when C. Milan Communications came on board nearly two years ago. On the surface, Mayacama appeared to have everything. A prized location in the heart of wine country. A celebrated Jack Nicklaus Signature Course. And a membership roster that reads like a who’s-who of California winemakers: Bill Harlan, Helen Turley and John Wetlaufer, Bart and Daphne Araujo, and Steve Kistler.
The challenge faced by CMC and Mayacama amounted to a private club’s Catch-22: How to generate press coverage from reluctant media without alienating members or compromising the refined and private climate that made the club so appealing from the start?
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Clos Du Val Wine Co.
“To me, Clos Du Val's wines have consistently failed to improve. Sometimes you're defined not by what you've accomplished, but by what the competition is offering. In that regard, Clos Du Val has fallen off the pace and dropped well back into the pack.”—James Laube, Wine Spectator, July 31, 1996.
This was last news out of Clos Du Val when Milan took the post Director of Public Relations and Corporate Communications in August 2001 . Within 11 months of her role as, she had secured a cover story in the Wine Spectator entitled “Napa Mavericks” featuring Clos Du Val.
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