The Clark Family & Winery Team

Spencer Clark, Founder / Proprietor

Spencer was born and raised in Houston, Texas. His family owned and operated a large rice drying facility and cultivated thousands of acres of rice in South Texas. As a teenager, he worked summers on the ranch dealing with all aspects of the growing and packaging rice. From an early age, Spencer showed a love of farming and a second passion for music.

He began playing piano and guitar early and went on to study music at University of St. Thomas. He continued a professional music career for over fifteen years until deciding to migrate to Northern California to explore the Napa Valley grape industry. The desire to live in this beautiful part of the country led Spencer, Amizetta and first son Spencer Jr. to settle in the small town of St. Helena in the late 70’s. Spencer quickly became captivated by the art of wine growing and making, and soon purchased a special piece of land deep in the Napa Valley mountains to create his dream of producing hillside red wines. Over the next several years he developed and established the hillside property of Amizetta Estate Vineyards and Winery. Spencer continues today pursuing his two true passions: Wine and Music. His music can be found at songsmith123.com

Amizetta Clark, Founder / Proprietor

Amizetta McFaddin Clark was born in Beaumont, Texas into to one of the earliest Texas ranching   families. Her great great grandfather, WPH McFaddin was an original Mexican land grantee. She  grew up enjoying weekends and summers with her father and grandfather on the McFaddin  ranches.

Her maternal grandfather owned a successful Spice Production Facility called McClancy Company. Both family ventures deeply influenced Amizetta’s appreciation of nature, farming and exquisite cuisine leading to her fascination and love of wine that ultimately fueled her desire to help create the Amizetta Napa Valley Vineyard Estate.

She has raised four children in the agricultural community of St. Helena. Returning to college to enhance her skills in winery financial management, she currently plays an integral roll in daily operations and spends time in both the vineyards and the winery ensuring only the highest quality wines are produced under the Amizetta Estate label.

Perry Clark, President

Earned his undergraduate degree from University of California at Davis in Viticulture and Enology and his MBA from the Graduate School of Management at UC Davis. Perry spent his summers during college working at Sterling Vineyards and Louis Martini Winery. These internships helped him gain a better understanding of how the “bigger” wineries operated.

After completing his degrees, he spent three years working in financial services with Blackstone Funds in New York City. Perry has since taken his wide breath of work experience and focused his attentions back at the family winery as the general manager.

Edward Clark, Winemaker

Working on the same property in Napa Valley where he grew up, Edward became head winemaker at Amizetta in 2011. He is now putting his mark on its signature cabernet sauvignon, working to take full advantage of the family land, with its southern facing slopes at the tail end of Howell Mountain.

“I really want to make a wine people can drink and enjoy right away, with less astringent tannins and more fruit-forward qualities,” says Edward, who is moving away from Amizetta’s earlier, more Old World style. From a young age, he loved spending time in the vineyard and still believes it holds the secret to amazing wine. “The vineyard side can be unappreciated,” he notes, adding that Amizetta’s high sun exposure and rich soil are ideal for growing cabernet grapes. “But for a long time that was my main passion. Now it’s great that I can bring that understanding to our winemaking.”

Edward’s background reflects this dual focus. He holds a degree in viticulture and enology from California State University at Fresno and previously studied viticulture at Napa Valley Junior College. He also brings a wealth of hands-on knowledge. He has lived in Chile and Argentina, exploring the South American grape and wine industries; in 2011, he worked the harvest at renowned facilities such as Mendel Winery in Mendoza. He has also been involved in running Amizetta for many years. “I’m definitely glad to be in a family-run operation,” he says. “It gives us more freedom and leeway to hone our techniques and style.”

Spencer Clark Jr., Property Manager

Amizetta Clark, MD,

Amizetta Carol Clark was born and raised in Saint Helena, CA. She is Spencer and Amizetta’s only daughter. She is an Internal Medicine-Phychiatry MD. and part owner of Amizetta Winery and Vineyards. She is married and has three children. Her daughter Amizetta, is a 4th generation namesake.

Patrick Volner, Estate Director

Patrick Volner began his journey in wine on the East Coast in 2001. Working as a restaurateur, he opened and operated restaurants in Tampa, St. Louis and Sacramento before making the move to the Napa Valley to pursue his real passion. After a tenure with Honig on the valley floor in Rutherford, he made the move into the Hennessey Hills. He is involved in all aspects of our operation from hospitality to harvest ensuring Amizetta remains at the top of its class. When he is not at the winery, Patrick is spending quality time with his wife, Sarah, and two sons, Bryce and Gavin.

Jose Rincon, Ranch Manager

Jose has worked at Amizetta Vineyards and Winery since 1992. He is the main ranch manager who is integral to keeping both the vineyards and winery running. Jose assists in the day to day management in the vineyard as well as assisting in the wine making process. The day to day running of the property would be lost without him.

John Tanda, Estate Host

John joined the Amizetta team in the Summer of 2022 as a full time host after spending 9 years working at various wineries throughout Napa Valley. A California native from Santa Cruz, he spent his college years studying Sociology at Long Beach State University and utilizes those skills to make sure every guest has the best experience possible. When not at the winery, you can almost always find John outdoors either hiking, gardening, tailgating or working out. Otherwise, you can find him enjoying his eclectic music collection and sci fi or fantasy movies. Along with his wife of 15 years, Melissa, John aspires to travel to Italy to learn about his Italian roots – spend a tasting with John, and watch those hands fly!

Rachel Sturm, Membership & Marketing Manager

Rachel is our Membership and Marketing Manager, customer service guru and animal whisperer. She handles everything from all our members needs at the winery, to email design and occasionally, you may even find her on the tasting terrace hosting a tasting!

Rachel is a Napa Native, born and raised. With a degree in Biology with an emphases Land Management, she loves all things outdoors, good food, and traveling anywhere she can with her fiance, Dustin. She jumped into the wine industry while still in college in 2013 and since then has worked at several well known wineries in Napa Valley.

Brandon Tatera, Shipping Coordinator

Brandon joined the Amizetta team in the summer of 2021 as our Shipping Coordinator. Using his degrees from the University of San Francisco, he is excited to manage our in-house shipping and logistics operation, as well as assist with compliance.

Brandon grew up in Southern California and originally worked in the sports industry. He spent his sports career involved with Yahoo Sports, Stanford University, and the NFL before developing a passion for wine. He found his calling in logistics after spending time in various sectors of the wine industry. When he is not at Amizetta, Brandon can be found outdoors hiking or swimming.

Brenda Garcia, Lodging Coordinator & Concierge

Brenda joined the Amizetta Team in December of 2021. She grew up running and dancing in Napa Vineyards and hills of Lake County. As the daughter of a school teacher and field laborer, she inherited the best of both worlds, a love of hard work and a thirst for knowledge. She has spent the past 7 years in the Wine Industry of Napa Valley working at various small wineries and businesses. She enjoys spending her spare time with her family out on the lake in the summer or curled up on the couch with a good book and a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon.

Melissa Hammack, Event Coordinator & Concierge

Melissa joined our winery family in January of 2022. She comes to us from a luxury brand background and will be on the forefront of our concierge and event programs. She is looking forward to helping make every guest experience beautiful. While she was born and raise in the San Francisco Bay Area, she also spent some time in the Clark’s old stomping grounds: Houston TX. With a passion for art, she received her BFA in Photography from AAU in San Francisco and looks forward to applying her skills at Amizetta. In her downtime, she loves spending time hiking, doing water sports and going to festivals with her fiance, Michael, as well as 17 year old daughter, Elise.

Jose Rincon Jr., Production Assisant

Jose Jr joined the Amizetta team 6 years ago after growing up on the Amizetta property with his father and family. As the eldest sibling, he spent his childhood running around the property and now knows it like the back of his hand. When Jose Jr isn’t in our Cellar assisting Eddie with the wine making process, you can find him on the property helping his Dad or Spencer Jr. A man of many talents, he enjoys playing soccer and has been an avid player since the age of 5. In his spare time, Jr loves to write songs (rap or hip-hop based) and has quite the voice!