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.

Zielen is chardonnay from a single east-facing vineyard in Bahlingen am Kaiserstuhl, on the edge of the extinct volcano that rises from the Rhine plain northwest of Freiburg. The Kaiserstuhl is among the warmest places in Germany, and this slope takes the morning sun and is spared the heat of the afternoon. Clay and loess sit over volcanic bedrock. The grapes are crushed by foot, pressed slowly as whole clusters, and aged on the lees in barrel for some 18 months. The cuvée is bottled on its own only when there is enough of it, and in 2021 the fruit was folded into the estate chardonnay.

The 2023 Zielen pairs the ripeness of its volcano with the cut of a cool-nighted vintage. Mirabelle plum, pineapple, and lemon peel lead, with toasted hazelnut from the long lees aging, over a broad, structured palate. The finish is long and distinctly salty, the signature Karoline and Max point to in this wine. Drink through 2031.