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Each 20 minutes or so, an older diesel train pulls into a graffiti-covered station. Nearby, a law enforcement alarm cuts through the almost continuous road noise. Commuters rush by collapsing, ivy-draped garden fences as storm clouds gather.

It is maybe the least likely spot you expect to find a well-established grape-growing plot. However James Bayliss-Smith has managed to 40 mature vines sagging with plump mauve grapes on a rambling allotment sandwiched between a row of 1930s houses and a local rail line just above the city downtown.

"I've noticed individuals hiding illegal substances or other items in the shrubbery," states 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's pulled together a loose collective of cultivators who produce vintage from several discreet city grape gardens nestled in private yards and allotments across Bristol. The project is sufficiently underground to have an official name so far, but the group's WhatsApp group is named Vineyard Dreams.

City Wine Gardens Around the Globe

So far, Bayliss-Smith's allotment is the sole location registered in the City Vineyard Network's upcoming global directory, which includes more famous city vineyards such as the 1,800 vines on the hillsides of the French capital's renowned Montmartre area and more than three thousand grapevines overlooking and within the Italian city. The Italian-based charitable organization is at the forefront of a initiative reviving city vineyards in historic wine-producing countries, but has discovered them throughout the globe, including cities in East Asia, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

"Grape gardens help cities remain more eco-friendly and more diverse. These spaces preserve open space from development by establishing permanent, productive agricultural units inside urban environments," says the organization's leader.

Similar to other vintages, those produced in urban areas are a product of the soils the plants grow in, the unpredictability of the climate and the people who care for the grapes. "A bottle of wine embodies the beauty, local spirit, environment and history of a urban center," adds the spokesperson.

Unknown Polish Variety

Returning to the city, Bayliss-Smith is in a race against time to gather the grapevines he cultivated from a cutting abandoned in his allotment by a Eastern European household. Should the rain arrives, then the birds may seize their chance to feast again. "This is the enigmatic Eastern European grape," he says, as he cleans damaged and mouldy grapes from the glistering bunches. "We don't really know what variety they are, but they are certainly hardy. Unlike premium grapes – Burgundy grapes, Chardonnay and other famous European varieties – you don't have to spray them with pesticides ... this is possibly a unique cultivar that was developed by the Eastern Bloc."

Group Efforts Across the City

Additional participants of the group are additionally taking advantage of sunny interludes between bursts of fall precipitation. At a rooftop garden with views of Bristol's glistening waterfront, where historic trading ships once floated with barrels of vintage from France and the Iberian peninsula, one cultivator is collecting her dark berries from about 50 plants. "I love the aroma of the grapevines. 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 open the car windows on holiday."

The humanitarian worker, 52, who has spent over two decades working for charitable groups in war-torn regions, unexpectedly 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 vines in the garden of their new home. "This vineyard has already survived multiple proprietors," she says. "I deeply appreciate the idea of natural stewardship – of handing this down to someone else so they keep cultivating from the soil."

Sloping Gardens and Natural Production

A short walk away, the remaining cultivators of the collective are hard at work on the steep inclines of Avon Gorge. Jo Scofield has cultivated over 150 plants situated on ledges in her expansive property, which descends towards the muddy River Avon. "Visitors frequently express amazement," she says, gesturing towards the interwoven grape garden. "They can't believe they can see rows of vines in a urban neighborhood."

Today, Scofield, 60, is picking bunches of dusty purple dark berries from rows of plants arranged along the cliff-side 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 Gardeners' World, was inspired to cultivate vines after observing her neighbor's vines. She's discovered that hobbyists can make interesting, pleasurable traditional vintage, which can command prices of upwards of seven pounds a serving in the increasing quantity of establishments specialising in low-processing wines. "It's just incredibly satisfying that you can truly make quality, traditional vintage," she says. "It's very fashionable, but really it's reviving an old way of making vintage."

"When I tread the grapes, all the wild yeasts are released from the skins into the juice," says the winemaker, ankle deep in a bucket of small branches, seeds and crimson juice. "This represents how vintages were historically produced, but industrial wineries add preservatives to kill the wild yeast and subsequently add a commercially produced culture."

Difficult Environments and Inventive Approaches

In the immediate vicinity sprightly retiree Bob Reeve, who inspired Scofield to establish her vines, has gathered his friends to harvest Chardonnay grapes from the 100 plants he has laid out neatly across two terraces. Reeve, a Lancashire-born physical education instructor who taught at Bristol University developed a passion for viticulture on annual sporting trips to France. But it is a difficult task to grow Chardonnay grapes in the humidity of the gorge, with cooling tides moving through from the Bristol Channel. "I aimed to make Burgundian wines here, which is somewhat ambitious," admits Reeve with amusement. "This variety is slow-maturing and particularly vulnerable to mildew."

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

The unpredictable Bristol climate is not the sole problem faced by winegrowers. Reeve has had to erect a fence on