🔗 Share this article

Each 20 minutes or so, an older diesel-powered railway carriage arrives at a spray-painted stop. Nearby, a law enforcement alarm pierces the almost continuous road noise. Commuters rush by collapsing, ivy-draped garden fences as storm clouds gather.

This is maybe the least likely spot you expect to find a perfectly formed vineyard. However one local grower has cultivated four dozen established plants heavy with round mauve grapes on a rambling allotment situated between a line of 1930s houses and a commuter railway just above the city town centre.

"I've seen people hiding illegal substances or whatever in those bushes," says Bayliss-Smith. "Yet you just get on with it ... and continue caring for your vines."

Bayliss-Smith, 46, a documentary cameraman who runs a kombucha drinks business, is among several urban winemaker. He's pulled together a informal group of cultivators who make wine from four discreet urban vineyards nestled in back gardens and community plots throughout Bristol. It is sufficiently underground to have an formal title yet, but the group's messaging chat is called Vineyard Dreams.

Urban Wine Gardens Across the World

To date, the grower's allotment is the sole location listed in the City Vineyard Network's upcoming global directory, which includes better-known urban wineries such as the eighteen hundred plants on the hillsides of the French capital's historic Montmartre area and over three thousand grapevines with views of and inside Turin. Based in Italy charitable organization is at the forefront of a initiative re-establishing urban grape cultivation in historic wine-producing nations, but has identified them all over the globe, including cities in East Asia, South Asia and Central Asia.

"Vineyards assist cities remain greener and more diverse. They protect open space from development by creating permanent, productive agricultural units within urban environments," says the organization's leader.

Similar to other vintages, those created in urban areas are a result of the soils the vines grow in, the unpredictability of the climate and the individuals who care for the fruit. "Each vintage represents the charm, community, environment and heritage of a city," adds the spokesperson.

Unknown Polish Grapes

Returning to Bristol, Bayliss-Smith is in a urgent timeline to gather the vines he grew from a plant left in his garden by a Polish family. Should the precipitation comes, then the birds may take advantage to attack again. "Here we have the enigmatic Polish variety," he says, as he removes bruised and rotten grapes from the shimmering clusters. "We don't really know their exact classification, but they're definitely disease-resistant. In contrast to noble varieties – Burgundy grapes, Chardonnay and other famous European varieties – you need not spray them with pesticides ... this is possibly a special variety that was bred by the Eastern Bloc."

Group Activities Across the City

The other members of the group are also making the most of bright periods between showers of fall precipitation. At a rooftop garden overlooking Bristol's glistening waterfront, where medieval merchant vessels once bobbed with barrels of wine from France and Spain, Katy Grant is harvesting her rondo grapes from approximately fifty vines. "I love the smell of these vines. The scent is so reminiscent," she remarks, pausing with a container of fruit resting on her arm. "It's the scent of southern France when you roll down the car windows on holiday."

Grant, fifty-two, who has devoted more than two decades working for humanitarian organizations in war-torn regions, unexpectedly inherited the grape garden when she moved back to the United Kingdom from East Africa with her household in 2018. She experienced an overwhelming duty to maintain the vines in the garden of their new home. "This vineyard has previously survived multiple proprietors," she explains. "I really like the idea of environmental care – of passing this on to someone else so they keep cultivating from the soil."

Terraced Vineyards and Traditional Winemaking

Nearby, the remaining cultivators of the group are hard at work on the precipitous slopes of Avon Gorge. Jo Scofield has established over 150 plants situated on terraces in her expansive property, which tumbles down towards the silty local waterway. "People are always surprised," she says, indicating the tangled vineyard. "They can't believe they can see rows of vines in a city street."

Today, the filmmaker, 60, is picking bunches of deep violet dark berries from lines of vines arranged along the hillside with the assistance of her child, her family member. The conservationist, a wildlife and conservation film-maker who has contributed to Netflix's nature programming and television network's Gardeners' World, was inspired to plant grapes after seeing her neighbor's grapevines. She's discovered that amateurs can produce intriguing, enjoyable natural wine, which can sell for upwards of seven pounds a serving in the increasing quantity of establishments focusing on low-processing vintages. "It is incredibly satisfying that you can truly create quality, traditional vintage," she says. "It's very fashionable, but really it's resurrecting an old way of making vintage."

"During foot-stomping the grapes, the various natural microorganisms come off the surfaces and enter the liquid," says Scofield, partially submerged in a bucket of small branches, pips and red liquid. "That's how vintages were historically produced, but commercial producers add sulphur [dioxide] to kill the wild yeast and then incorporate a lab-grown yeast."

Challenging Environments and Inventive Approaches

A few doors down active senior another cultivator, who inspired his neighbor to plant her vines, has assembled his companions to pick Chardonnay grapes from the 100 vines he has arranged precisely across multiple levels. The former teacher, a northern English PE teacher who worked at the local university developed a passion for viticulture on regular visits to Europe. However it is a difficult task to cultivate Chardonnay grapes in the dampness of the gorge, with cooling tides moving through from the nearby estuary. "I wanted to produce French-style vintages here, which is somewhat ambitious," says the retiree with a smile. "Chardonnay is slow-maturing and very sensitive to mildew."

"My goal was creating Burgundian wines here, which is rather ambitious"

The temperamental Bristol climate is not the sole challenge faced by winegrowers. Reeve has had to erect a barrier on