This elegant and beautifully textural wine glides across the palate in rich, supple waves of both red and black fruit, with an underlying acidity that makes the flavors pop. The fine-grained, suede-like tannins perfectly frame the big, lush berry flavors, carrying the wine to a long, resonant finish.
The grapes were harvested in September 2022 and destemmed and crushed into open-top fermenters. Daily pump-overs were performed for five days to release color and tannin. When optimum levels were achieved, the fermentation was kicked off using yeast to enhance dark fruit aromatics. During fermentation, the grapes were punched down two times a day to manage temperature and continue to release color and flavors. We then pressed the finished wine off the skins and aged it for 22 months in 50% new French oak barrels and 50% once-filled barrels. Bottling occurred in August 4, 2022.
For more than 30 years, MacRostie has focused on making benchmark Sonoma County Chardonnays and Pinot Noirs. While this focus has allowed us to cultivate a remarkable level of experience, we are wine lovers who also find joy in exploring and discovering new regions and new wines. As a result, several years back, we created a new winery-within-a-winery here at MacRostie. We called it Clockwise—a name that captures many of the elements that are important to us from a winemaking perspective, including timing, wisdom, and knowledge. Just like at MacRostie, the winemaking for Clockwise is guided by gifted Winemaker Heidi Bridenhagen and winemaking icon Steve MacRostie. Our Clockwise Napa Valley Red Wine was crafted using four of the five traditional Bordeaux varietals and is composed of 54% Cabernet Sauvignon, 32% Cabernet Franc, 7% Malbec, and 7% Merlot, yielding a layered and complex Cabernet-based red blend in a more classically Old World style.