If you’d met Ondřej Zháněl when he was eighteen and told him he’d one day become a winemaker, he’d probably have tapped his forehead in disbelief. The son of an artistic blacksmith, growing up in Břeclav, he had a field behind his house where, at most, beetroot and potatoes were grown. Wine? That certainly didn’t feature in his plans back then.

At the start of 2023, the decommissioning of three wells in the Ždánice area was successfully completed. This symbolically marked the end of a chapter in the long history of oil and gas extraction in this region. Each well had a different history and significance, but what they had in common was that they had fulfilled their purpose and, upon reaching the end of their life cycle, were professionally and safely secured in a permanent state.

Rudolf Jakubík joined MND by chance in 1977. After his military service, he worked in a bank, where, during a tour, he met the head of the information systems department at the MND in Hodonín among the visitors. One thing led to another, a job offer came along, and even a higher salary. Although the promised computers remained more of a dream for the time being, Ruda took a step that changed his life for the next 49 years.