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Every 20 minutes or so, an ageing diesel railway carriage pulls into a spray-painted stop. Close by, a law enforcement alarm cuts through the near-constant traffic drone. Commuters hurry past falling apart, ivy-covered garden fences as storm clouds gather.

It is maybe the last place you expect to find a well-established grape-growing plot. But James Bayliss-Smith has cultivated four dozen established plants heavy with plump mauve grapes on a rambling allotment situated between a row of 1930s houses and a local rail line just north of the city downtown.

"I've noticed individuals hiding illegal substances or other items in the shrubbery," states the grower. "Yet you simply continue ... and continue caring for your grapevines."

Bayliss-Smith, 46, a filmmaker who runs a kombucha drinks business, is among several urban winemaker. He has organized a informal group of growers who produce wine from four discreet city grape gardens nestled in private yards and allotments throughout the city. The project is too clandestine to have an official name so far, but the group's WhatsApp group is named Vineyard Dreams.

City Wine Gardens Across the World

So far, Bayliss-Smith's plot is the sole location listed in the Urban Vineyards Association's forthcoming world atlas, which includes more famous city vineyards such as the eighteen hundred vines on the slopes of the French capital's historic Montmartre neighbourhood and over 3,000 vines overlooking and within Turin. Based in Italy non-profit association is at the forefront of a movement re-establishing city vineyards in traditional winemaking countries, but has identified them all over the globe, including cities in East Asia, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

"Vineyards help urban areas remain greener and more diverse. They protect land from development by creating permanent, yielding agricultural units within cities," says the association's president.

Like all wines, those produced in urban areas are a result of the earth the vines thrive in, the unpredictability of the weather and the individuals who tend the grapes. "A bottle of wine embodies the charm, local spirit, environment and heritage of a urban center," notes the spokesperson.

Mystery Eastern European Variety

Back in the city, the grower is in a race against time to gather the vines he grew from a plant left in his allotment by a Eastern European household. If the precipitation comes, then the birds may seize their chance to feast once more. "Here we have the mystery Polish grape," he comments, as he removes damaged and mouldy grapes from the shimmering clusters. "The variety remains uncertain what variety they are, but they're definitely disease-resistant. Unlike noble varieties – Pinot Noir, Chardonnay and other famous European varieties – you need not treat them with chemicals ... this could be a unique cultivar that was bred by the Eastern Bloc."

Collective Efforts Throughout the City

The other members of the collective are also making the most of sunny interludes between bursts of fall precipitation. On the terrace with views of the city's shimmering waterfront, where historic trading ships once floated with casks of wine from France and Spain, one cultivator is harvesting her rondo grapes from approximately 50 plants. "I adore the smell of these vines. It is so reminiscent," she remarks, pausing with a container of grapes resting on her shoulder. "It's the scent of Provence when you roll down the car windows on holiday."

The humanitarian worker, fifty-two, who has devoted more than two decades working for charitable groups in war-torn regions, unexpectedly took over the grape garden when she moved back to the United Kingdom from Kenya with her household in 2018. She experienced an overwhelming duty to maintain the grapevines in the yard of their new home. "This vineyard has previously endured three different owners," she explains. "I really like the idea of natural stewardship – of handing this down to future caretakers so they can continue producing from the soil."

Sloping Gardens and Natural Production

Nearby, the remaining cultivators of the group are hard at work on the steep inclines of Avon Gorge. Jo Scofield has cultivated over one hundred fifty plants perched on terraces in her expansive property, which tumbles down towards the silty local waterway. "Visitors frequently express amazement," she says, gesturing towards the interwoven grape garden. "It's astonishing to them they can see rows of vines in a city street."

Today, the filmmaker, sixty, is harvesting clusters of dusty purple dark berries from rows of plants arranged along the hillside with the assistance of her child, her family member. Scofield, a documentary producer who has worked on Netflix's nature programming and BBC Two's Gardeners' World, was motivated to cultivate vines after seeing her neighbor's vines. She has learned that hobbyists can make interesting, enjoyable natural wine, which can sell for more than seven pounds a glass in the growing number of establishments focusing on low-processing wines. "It is incredibly satisfying that you can actually make quality, natural wine," she says. "It is quite on trend, but in reality it's reviving an traditional method of producing wine."

"During foot-stomping the fruit, all the wild yeasts are released from the surfaces and enter the juice," explains Scofield, partially submerged in a bucket of tiny stems, seeds and crimson juice. "This represents how wines were made traditionally, but industrial wineries introduce preservatives to kill the natural cultures and subsequently incorporate a lab-grown culture."

Challenging Conditions and Creative Solutions

In the immediate vicinity sprightly retiree another cultivator, who motivated his neighbor to establish her grapevines, has assembled his friends to pick white wine varieties from the 100 plants he has arranged precisely across two terraces. The former teacher, a northern English physical education instructor who taught at Bristol University developed a passion for wine on regular visits to Europe. But it is a difficult task to grow this particular variety in the humidity of the gorge, with temperature fluctuations sweeping in and out from the Bristol Channel. "I wanted to make Burgundian wines in this location, which is somewhat ambitious," says Reeve with a smile. "This variety is late to ripen and particularly vulnerable to fungal infections."

"My goal was creating Burgundian wines in this environment, which is rather ambitious"

The temperamental Bristol climate is not the only problem encountered by winegrowers. The gardener has been compelled to install a barrier on