In Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region, winemakers such as the Molchanov family are continuing to tend their vineyards despite the ongoing Russian invasion, framing the act of growing grapes as an expression of faith in the future. Their organic Steppe Wines vines sit amid the biodiverse grassland near the Southern Buh river, but the war is a constant presence — most starkly in the form of an unexploded Russian rocket lodged nose-down between rows of Chardonnay, which they have chosen to work around rather than risk damaging the vines with heavy removal machinery.

When the full-scale invasion began on 24 February 2022, the Molchanovs left their home in Mykolaiv for their winery, only to find themselves caught between the two armies' artillery lines as fighting intensified in early March. The successful defence of Mykolaiv proved pivotal, as its capture would have opened a route towards the strategic Black Sea port of Odesa; the family sheltered in their wine cellar, sacrificing a stock of 2017 Cabernet in the process. Beyond the war, the growers also contend with the ordinary hazards of viticulture — poor weather, rot, disease and fungus — made harder by their reliance on organic methods using only copper and sulphur.