Makalié is a tiny estate founded in 2019 by Max Frölich and Karoline Linka in Müllheim, in the southern Baden region of Germany. Both trained at the University of Geisenheim and seasoned in natural wine cellars across France and Austria, they returned home with a commitment to making wines that feel inseparable from the land itself. The name Makalié reflects that philosophy, created from maka (earth) and lié (connected). Their vineyards lie on steep slopes between the Black Forest, France, and Switzerland and their farming follows biodynamic principles, while in the cellar everything is done gently: hand harvests, spontaneous fermentations, aging in old Burgundian barrels and amphora, no fining or filtration, and only the faintest touch of sulfur at bottling. Production is microscopic, only a few hundred bottles per cuvée, yet the wines are pure and precise, vibrant and elegant, and a deeply personal expression of Baden’s terroirs and a philosophy of connection to the earth.
Bleuwen comes from Makalié’s top site, the Römerberg in Badenweiler, a south-facing wall of vines pitched at 45 degrees and climbing to 400 meters, where the vineyards give way to the Black Forest. Thin clay lies over Jurassic limestone and calcareous marl, ground so stony and spare that the spätburgunder vines, planted in the 1970s, have had to root deep to survive. Cool winds come down off the forest in the evenings, bringing a freshness that is hard-won in Germany’s warmest wine region. Roughly 70% of the fruit goes into tank as whole clusters for two to three weeks, with no extraction beyond a single punch-down by foot before pressing, and the wine then spends 18 months in barrel. The 2023 season asked a lot: a dry early summer and rain from late July, followed by cool September nights that kept the fruit bright.
The 2023 Bleuwen carries that brightness on a serious frame. Sour cherry and blackcurrant come first, then fir tips, thyme, and damp forest floor, with a saline edge that sharpens as the wine opens. The palate is dense without weight, the fruit held by chalky grip from the limestone and finishing long, spiced, and cool. Max and Karoline say this wine wants air and time, so decant it or leave it in the cellar. Drink through 2035.
