This elegant and beautifully textural wine glides across the palate in rich, supple waves of red, black, and purple fruit. On the palate, layers of dried fruit, cocoa, and baking spice play beautifully with the generous tannins, with notions of pencil shavings and mulled spices providing a playful counterpoint to the luxurious berry flavors.
The grapes were harvested in September and October 2021 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 30 months in 77% new French oak barrels and 23% once-filled barrels. Bottling occurred on February 20, 2024.
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. Our Napa Valley Red Wine was crafted using all five traditional Bordeaux varietals and is composed of 65% Cabernet Sauvignon, 14% Cabernet Franc, 7% Malbec, 7% Merlot, and 7% Petit Verdot, yielding a layered and complex Cabernet-based blend in a more classically Old World style.