As winemaker Mykhailo Molchanov trimmed his vines on a warm early-summer day, his dog Direktor at his heels, the scene was idyllic - except for the unexploded Russian rocket half-buried in the soil between rows of Chardonnay. The Molchanovs have considered removing it, but the machinery required would damage the vines, so they simply work around it. Such is life on the frontline of Ukraine’s wine country.

When Russia’s full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, the family fled their home in Mykolaiv to their winery on the Southern Buh river. Soon they found themselves between the lines, under artillery from both armies. “You could see the rockets going directly up towards space - as if they were launching cosmonauts,” said son Heorhii. Their bomb shelter? The wine cellar. “We used to have a pretty decent 2017 Cabernet down there. Not any more,” said Mykhailo.

Despite the war, the family has expanded their acreage and plans to increase production from 10,000 bottles a year to 30,000-50,000 over the next decade. They grow native Ukrainian grapes like telti kuruk and odesa black alongside familiar varieties. Mykhailo is optimistic about Ukrainian wine’s potential, noting that Italian growers at a conference sounded like they were describing the 1960s. The family is also running a hub for local winemakers, including Olha Kashchenko from Kherson, whose vineyard lies in the red zone and whose country house has been destroyed. “We plan to return,” she said, “but the area is mined.”

Across Ukraine, the scale of loss is devastating. According to Svitlana Tsybak, president of the Ukrainian Association of Craft Winemakers, the country’s vineyard area dropped from 68,000 hectares in 2014 to 47,000 after Crimea’s annexation, and now stands at just 15,000 hectares. Many growers have switched to sunflowers or wheat for faster returns. Yet remarkably, 82 new craft wineries have been established since 2022, mostly in safer central and western regions.

At Beykush winery on a cape southwest of Mykolaiv, head winemaker Olha Romashko has moved into the winery for safety. The underground tasting rooms serve as a refuge. “When there isn’t an FPV drone for a while - then it’s strange,” she said. In November 2022, she and her deputy planted malbec grapes, ordered two years prior. “You can’t just stop taking care of it,” said Pashkovsky, caressing the new vines. “When you look at these buds, how could you possibly abandon them?”