Ukraine vineyard area falls to 15,000 hectares after losses since 2014

Ukraine's vineyard area stands at 15,000 hectares, down from 68,000 hectares in 2014 and 47,000 hectares after Russia's annexation of Crimea, according to Svitlana Tsybak, president of the Ukrainian Association of Craft Winemakers. The Guardian reported that occupation, flooding from the Kakhovka dam breach, and shifts to grain crops account for most of the reduction.

Mykhailo Molchanov operates Steppe Wines, an organic vineyard near Mykolaiv.

An unexploded Russian rocket remains embedded between rows of Chardonnay grapes. The family crossed the Southern Buh river on 24 February 2022, the day Russia's full-scale invasion began, and sheltered in their wine cellar during artillery exchanges in early March. " Mykhailo Molchanov noted the family consumed its 2017 Cabernet reserves while using the cellar as a bomb shelter.

The Molchanovs have added acreage since the invasion and now produce about 10,000 bottles a year. They plan to reach 30,000 to 50,000 bottles annually within a decade while growing native varieties including telti kuruk and odesa black. Wild goats and pigs ate at least one ton of grapes last year.

In the Kherson region, the Prince Trubetskoy winery was occupied at the start of the invasion, later looted, and destroyed by bombing in February 2026. Olha Kashchenko's vineyard plot outside Kherson lies in a mined red zone; her countryside house was destroyed and she has been unable to reach the site since 2023.

Beykush winery, established in 2010 southwest of Mykolaiv, produces about 65,000 bottles a year.

Head winemaker Olha Romashko moved into the facility from Ochakiv for safety. In November 2022 she and Oleksandr Pashkovsky planted malbec vines. Pashkovsky said cruise missiles flew low from Crimea in 2022 and Shahed drones later altered daily routines.