🔗 Share this article

Every quarter of an hour or so, an older diesel train pulls into a graffiti-covered stop. Close by, a police siren cuts through the almost continuous traffic drone. Commuters hurry past collapsing, ivy-covered garden fences as rain clouds gather.

This is maybe the least likely spot you expect to find a well-established vineyard. However one local grower has managed to four dozen established plants sagging with round purplish berries on a rambling garden plot sandwiched between a line of 1930s houses and a commuter railway just north of the city downtown.

"I've noticed people concealing heroin or other items in those bushes," says Bayliss-Smith. "But you just get on with it ... and continue caring for your vines."

The cameraman, 46, a documentary cameraman who runs a fermented beverage company, is among several urban winemaker. He has pulled together a loose collective of growers who make wine from several discreet urban vineyards nestled in back gardens and allotments throughout the city. It is too clandestine to possess an formal title yet, but the group's messaging chat is named Vineyard Dreams.

City Vineyards Around the World

So far, Bayliss-Smith's allotment is the only one listed in the City Vineyard Network's upcoming world atlas, which features more famous city vineyards such as the 1,800 plants on the hillsides of Paris's renowned Montmartre area and over 3,000 vines with views of and inside the Italian city. Based in Italy charitable organization is at the vanguard of a movement reviving urban grape cultivation in historic wine-producing countries, but has discovered them all over the world, including urban centers in Japan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

"Vineyards assist cities remain greener and ecologically varied. These spaces preserve open space from development by creating long-term, yielding agricultural units inside cities," says the association's president.

Similar to other vintages, those produced in urban areas are a result of the earth the plants grow in, the vagaries of the climate and the individuals who care for the fruit. "Each vintage embodies the charm, local spirit, landscape and heritage of a city," notes the spokesperson.

Unknown Eastern European Variety

Returning to the city, Bayliss-Smith is in a race against time to gather the vines he grew from a plant abandoned in his garden by a Eastern European household. If the rain arrives, then the pigeons may take advantage to feast again. "Here we have the mystery Polish grape," he says, as he removes bruised and rotten grapes from the shimmering bunches. "We don't really know what variety they are, but they're definitely hardy. Unlike premium grapes – Burgundy grapes, white wine grapes and other famous European varieties – you need not treat them with chemicals ... this could be a unique cultivar that was developed by the Soviets."

Collective Efforts Throughout Bristol

Additional participants of the group are additionally making the most of sunny interludes between showers of fall precipitation. At a rooftop garden with views of the city's glistening waterfront, where medieval merchant vessels once bobbed with barrels of vintage from France and Spain, one cultivator is collecting her dark berries from approximately 50 plants. "I adore the aroma of the grapevines. The scent is so reminiscent," she says, stopping with a container of fruit slung over her arm. "It's the scent of southern France when you open the car windows on holiday."

The humanitarian worker, 52, who has spent over two decades working for humanitarian organizations in conflict zones, inadvertently took over the grape garden when she returned to the United Kingdom from East Africa with her family in 2018. She experienced an strong responsibility to maintain the grapevines in the garden of their new home. "This vineyard has already survived three different owners," she says. "I deeply appreciate the concept of natural stewardship – of handing this down to someone else so they can continue producing from this land."

Sloping Vineyards and Natural Production

Nearby, the final two members of the group are hard at work on the precipitous slopes of Avon Gorge. One filmmaker has established more than 150 vines situated on ledges in her expansive property, which tumbles down towards the silty River Avon. "Visitors frequently express amazement," she notes, indicating the interwoven vineyard. "They can't believe they can see grapevine lines in a city street."

Today, the filmmaker, sixty, is harvesting bunches of deep violet Rondo grapes from rows of vines arranged along the hillside with the assistance of her daughter, her family member. The conservationist, a documentary producer who has contributed to streaming service's Great National Parks series and television network's gardening shows, was inspired to plant grapes after observing her neighbour's grapevines. She has learned that amateurs can produce interesting, enjoyable traditional vintage, which can command prices of upwards of £7 a serving in the increasing quantity of wine bars focusing on low-processing vintages. "It is deeply rewarding that you can truly create quality, traditional vintage," she states. "It's very on trend, but in reality it's reviving an traditional method of producing vintage."

"When I tread the fruit, all the natural microorganisms come off the skins into the juice," says Scofield, partially submerged in a container of tiny stems, seeds and red liquid. "That's how wines were made traditionally, but industrial wineries add preservatives to kill the natural cultures and then add a lab-grown yeast."

Difficult Environments and Creative Approaches

In the immediate vicinity active senior another cultivator, who motivated Scofield to establish her vines, has gathered his companions to pick Chardonnay grapes from one hundred vines he has laid out neatly across multiple levels. The former teacher, a Lancashire-born PE teacher who worked at Bristol University developed a passion for wine on annual sporting trips to France. But it is a challenge to cultivate this particular variety in the humidity of the valley, with cooling tides sweeping in and out from the nearby estuary. "I wanted to make French-style vintages in this location, which is a bit bonkers," admits the retiree with amusement. "This variety is slow-maturing and particularly vulnerable to mildew."

"I wanted to make Burgundian wines in this environment, which is rather ambitious"

The unpredictable local weather is not the sole problem faced by grape cultivators. Reeve has been compelled to erect a fence on