🔗 Share this article

Every quarter of an hour or so, an older diesel railway carriage pulls into a spray-painted station. Nearby, a police siren cuts through the almost continuous traffic drone. Commuters hurry past falling apart, ivy-covered garden fences as storm clouds gather.

This is perhaps the last place you expect to find a well-established vineyard. However James Bayliss-Smith has managed to four dozen established plants heavy with round purplish berries on a rambling allotment sandwiched between a line of 1930s houses and a local rail line just north of the city downtown.

"I've seen people concealing heroin or whatever in the shrubbery," says Bayliss-Smith. "But you just get on with it ... and keep tending to your grapevines."

Bayliss-Smith, 46, a documentary cameraman who also has a kombucha drinks business, is not the only local vintner. He has organized a loose collective of cultivators who produce wine from four hidden urban vineyards tucked away in back gardens and allotments throughout the city. It is too clandestine to possess an official name yet, but the collective's messaging chat is named Vineyard Dreams.

City Wine Gardens Around the Globe

So far, the grower's plot is the sole location listed in the City Vineyard Network's upcoming global directory, which includes better-known city vineyards such as the 1,800 plants on the hillsides of Paris's renowned artistic district neighbourhood and more than 3,000 grapevines with views of and within the Italian city. Based in Italy non-profit association is at the forefront of a initiative re-establishing city vineyards in historic wine-producing nations, but has discovered them throughout the world, including urban centers in East Asia, Bangladesh and Central Asia.

"Grape gardens assist cities stay more eco-friendly and more diverse. These spaces preserve land from construction by establishing permanent, yielding farming plots within cities," explains the organization's leader.

Similar to other vintages, those produced in urban areas are a product of the earth the plants grow in, the unpredictability of the climate and the people who care for the grapes. "Each vintage embodies the beauty, local spirit, landscape and history of a urban center," notes the spokesperson.

Mystery Polish Variety

Returning to the city, the grower is in a urgent timeline to harvest the grapevines he grew from a plant abandoned in his garden by a Eastern European household. Should the rain arrives, then the pigeons may take advantage to feast again. "Here we have the mystery Eastern European grape," he says, as he removes bruised and rotten berries from the glistering clusters. "The variety remains uncertain what variety they are, but they are certainly hardy. In contrast to noble varieties – Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and additional renowned French grapes – you don't have to spray them with chemicals ... this could be a unique cultivar that was bred by the Soviets."

Group Activities Across the City

Additional participants of the collective are also making the most of sunny interludes between showers of fall precipitation. On the terrace overlooking the city's glistening waterfront, where medieval merchant vessels once floated with barrels of wine from Europe and Spain, one cultivator is collecting her rondo grapes from approximately 50 plants. "I love the aroma of these vines. It is so evocative," she says, pausing with a basket of grapes slung over her shoulder. "It recalls the fragrance of Provence when you open the vehicle windows on vacation."

Grant, fifty-two, who has devoted more than two decades working for charitable groups in conflict zones, unexpectedly took over the grape garden when she moved back to the UK from Kenya with her family in 2018. She experienced an strong responsibility to look after the vines in the garden of their recently acquired property. "This plot has previously endured multiple proprietors," she explains. "I really like the concept of natural stewardship – of passing this on to someone else so they continue producing from this land."

Terraced Gardens and Natural Production

A short walk away, the final two members of the collective are busily laboring on the precipitous slopes of Avon Gorge. One filmmaker has cultivated more than 150 vines situated on terraces in her wild half-acre garden, which tumbles down towards the muddy local waterway. "People are always surprised," she notes, indicating the interwoven grape garden. "They can't believe they can see grapevine lines in a city street."

Currently, the filmmaker, 60, is harvesting clusters of dusty purple dark berries from rows of plants arranged along the hillside with the assistance of her daughter, her family member. Scofield, a documentary producer who has worked on streaming service's Great National Parks series and BBC Two's gardening shows, was motivated to cultivate vines after observing her neighbor's grapevines. She has learned that amateurs can produce interesting, enjoyable traditional vintage, which can sell for more than seven pounds a serving in the increasing quantity of wine bars specialising in minimal-intervention wines. "It is deeply rewarding that you can actually make good, natural wine," she says. "It is quite on trend, but really it's reviving an old way of making vintage."

"During foot-stomping the fruit, the various natural microorganisms are released from the surfaces and enter the liquid," says Scofield, ankle deep in a container of tiny stems, seeds and red liquid. "That's how wines were historically produced, but industrial wineries introduce preservatives to kill the natural cultures and then incorporate a lab-grown yeast."

Difficult Conditions and Inventive Approaches

A few doors down active senior another cultivator, who motivated Scofield to establish her vines, has assembled his companions to pick Chardonnay grapes from the 100 vines he has arranged precisely across multiple levels. Reeve, a northern English PE teacher who worked at Bristol University developed a passion for viticulture on regular visits to France. But it is a challenge to grow this particular variety in the dampness of the valley, with temperature fluctuations moving through from the Bristol Channel. "I wanted to produce Burgundian wines here, which is a bit bonkers," says Reeve with a smile. "This variety is late to ripen and particularly vulnerable to fungal infections."

"My goal was creating European-style vintages in this environment, which is rather ambitious"

The unpredictable local weather is not the sole challenge encountered by grape cultivators. The gardener has been compelled to erect a fence on