The wine has what can only be described as a sunset color with hues of pink and orange. Delicate pomegranate and red grapefruit aromas fill the glass. The wine has a crisp acid backbone to keep the Cabernet Sauvignon profile lifted and bright, making it a stunning and captivating Rosé to enjoy on an autumn day.
The juice was saigneéd just an hour after the fruit was sorted and destemmed into its fermentation tank. The juice was then put into a stainless steel tank and held at cold temperatures for 48 hours. The color was the palest of red, optimal for making a Rosé. The juice was then racked off of the lees and inoculated with a yeast that could be fermented at very cool temperatures. After fermentation, the wine was put into 15% neutral barrels, and the rest in stainless steel for the short aging. In February of 2022, the wine was bottled.
The 2021 vintage produced amazing wines. Yields were down slightly, and ripening occurred in a shorter period of time than most years. The vines had slightly stunted growth perhaps from the drought the year before. Though things were picked earlier than usual, the weather was mild around harvest allowing the acids to be crisp and the berries to be ripe. We harvested this fruit on September 30, 2021, at optimal ripeness, resulting in a wine with vibrant fruit aromatics.
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 established a new 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 Winemaker Heidi Bridenhagen and winemaking icon Steve MacRostie. In 2021 we worked with Cabernet Sauvignon that came into the winery with flavors and aromatics just craving to become a rosé. Unable to resist the temptation to create something fantastic from this vineyard, a small volume of juice (350 gallons) was pulled from the Cabernet Sauvignon fermentation to become our first ever Clockwise Rosé of Cabernet Sauvignon.
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