The People

Thomas Brown Winemaker

Thomas Brown was born in Sumter, South Carolina in 1972, a marginal vintage for wine, but a great year for humans. He developed an interest in wine while majoring in English and Economics at the University of Virginia. Later, he expanded his knowledge of wines from all of the world’s great regions while working at All Seasons Wine Shop in Calistoga at the northern end of the Napa Valley. He worked the 1997 harvest for Kent Rasmussen before becoming an assistant winemaker for Ehren Jordan, winemaker at Turley Wine Cellars and consultant to a number of other high profile California wineries. In 2000 Jordan signed an exclusive winemaking agreement with Turley, handing his clients to Thomas. Today, Thomas consults for Outpost, Chiarello, Shrader, and Nicholson Ranch in addition to his own unnamed Pinot Noir project (first vintage 2002). Beyond California, Thomas is a fan of Burgundy, Piedmont, southern Rhone. When asked how he defines great wine, he responds, “I can’t really define it, but I know it when I taste it.”

Joshua Clark Viticulturist

Joshua T. Clark was born in Marysville, California, the heart and/or soul of Yuba County. His parents Thomas and Laurie Clark moved to Napa Valley in 1976. Happily, they brought the two-year old Joshua with them. In 1989, the Clark Family purchased 117 acres developing 20 into a high quality Cabernet Sauvignon vineyard. Like his parents Joshua attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, graduating with a BS in Agricultural Engineering Technology and a Minor in Ag Business. After school he worked for Hames Valley Vineyards and Vineyard Professional Services in Paso Robles, CA. After managing development, maintenance and harvest for VPS during the ’97 and ’98 vintages, Joshua moved back up the Napa Valley to take over his father’s vineyard management company Clark Vineyard Management, specializes in small, high quality vineyards and currently manages a number of vineyards and also grows top quality fruit for some of the Valley’s more established producers. In 1993, the family produced their first vintage under the Clark-Claudon Vineyards label.

The Waitte Family

Barry Waitte

Barry Waitte, a native Northern Californian, developed his love of the wine industry during visits to Napa Valley as a child with his parents and always dreamed of owning a vineyard and making wine. The years preceding the achievement of that dream were filled with over 20 years of working in the technology industry. In 1999, he was able to begin his pursuits of his passions for wine, horses, and endurance horse racing (see www.aerc.org). While not walking the vineyards, barrel tasting the wine, or spending countless hours on the back of a horse, Barry is also involved with the Waitte Foundation, a charitable fund for the benefit of underprivileged women and children, and sits on the boards of private companies VinTrust, Structural Integrity Associates and Thinkwave. Barry is also the Board President of KCAT, a Community Service TV station, is a Commissioner for the Town of Los Gatos, and is also on the Board of Directors for the American Endurance Riding Conference (AERC).

Hershey

Hershey is the family dog, a chocolate lab, of course. He is the ambassador to all that visit Tamber Bey and will attempt to leave his paw marks on anything white a visitor may be wearing. Hershey’s favorite activities include eating, running with the horses, napping on the couch and riding in the truck.

Our Horses

All the horses in the Waitte herd are registered Arabian, and were specifically bred for competitive long-distance riding. Cambridge (shown at left) with Barry as the rider was the 2005 National HW Division Champion, and was a member of the 2005 Gold Medal Team for the North American Championship, and is currently on the 2006 US Equestrian Endurance team.

Cambridge (CV Cambridge)
Sam (Kann Sam Count)
Streak (Gulastras Streak)
Omni (MV Omni)
Tiki (MV Con Tiki)
Tobi (Super Sundae)
Smitty (Sir Smith)
River (River Dancer)
Joey (JoTyr)
Reve (Dreamm On)