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Each quarter of an hour or so, an ageing diesel railway carriage pulls into a spray-painted station. Close by, a police siren pierces the almost continuous traffic drone. Commuters rush by falling apart, ivy-covered fencing panels as rain clouds form.

This is perhaps the least likely spot you expect to find a well-established vineyard. But James Bayliss-Smith has cultivated 40 mature vines heavy with round purplish grapes on a rambling allotment situated between a row of historic homes and a commuter railway just above Bristol town centre.

"I've seen individuals hiding illegal substances or whatever in the shrubbery," states the grower. "But you simply continue ... and continue caring for your grapevines."

Bayliss-Smith, forty-six, a filmmaker who also has a kombucha drinks business, is among several urban winemaker. He has organized a informal group of cultivators who make vintage from four hidden urban vineyards nestled in private yards and community plots across Bristol. The project is sufficiently underground to possess an official name so far, but the collective's messaging chat is named Vineyard Dreams.

Urban Wine Gardens Across the World

To date, the grower's plot is the only one listed in the Urban Vineyards Association's upcoming global directory, which features better-known city vineyards such as the eighteen hundred plants on the slopes of the French capital's renowned artistic district neighbourhood and over 3,000 grapevines with views of and inside the Italian city. Based in Italy charitable organization is at the vanguard of a movement re-establishing city vineyards in historic wine-producing countries, but has identified them throughout the world, including urban centers in East Asia, Bangladesh and Central Asia.

"Vineyards assist cities stay more eco-friendly and ecologically varied. They preserve land from construction by establishing permanent, productive agricultural units inside cities," says the association's president.

Like all wines, those produced in cities are a result of the earth the plants thrive in, the vagaries of the climate and the people who tend the grapes. "Each vintage represents the beauty, community, landscape and heritage of a city," notes the spokesperson.

Mystery Polish Variety

Returning to Bristol, the grower is in a race against time to harvest the vines he grew from a cutting left in his garden by a Polish family. Should the precipitation comes, then the pigeons may take advantage to attack again. "Here we have the enigmatic Eastern European variety," he comments, as he removes bruised and mouldy grapes from the glistering clusters. "The variety remains uncertain what variety they are, but they're definitely disease-resistant. Unlike premium grapes – Burgundy grapes, Chardonnay and other famous European varieties – you don't have to treat them with pesticides ... this is possibly a special variety that was developed by the Eastern Bloc."

Group Efforts Across Bristol

The other members of the group are also making the most of sunny interludes between bursts of fall precipitation. On the terrace with views of the city's shimmering harbour, where medieval merchant vessels once floated with casks of wine from Europe and Spain, Katy Grant is collecting her rondo grapes from about 50 plants. "I love the smell of the grapevines. The scent is so evocative," she says, stopping with a basket of grapes resting on her shoulder. "It recalls the fragrance of Provence when you open the vehicle windows on vacation."

Grant, 52, who has spent over two decades working for charitable groups in war-torn regions, inadvertently took over the vineyard when she returned to the UK from East Africa with her family in 2018. She felt an strong responsibility to maintain the vines in the yard of their recently acquired property. "This vineyard has previously survived multiple proprietors," she says. "I deeply appreciate the concept of environmental care – of handing this down to future caretakers so they continue producing from the soil."

Terraced Vineyards and Traditional Production

Nearby, the final two members of the collective are hard at work on the steep inclines of the local river valley. One filmmaker has cultivated more than 150 vines situated on ledges in her wild half-acre garden, which descends towards the silty local waterway. "Visitors frequently express amazement," she notes, gesturing towards the interwoven grape garden. "They can't believe they are viewing rows of vines in a urban neighborhood."

Currently, Scofield, sixty, is harvesting bunches of dusty purple Rondo grapes from rows of plants arranged along the hillside with the help of her child, her family member. Scofield, a wildlife and conservation film-maker who has contributed to streaming service's Great National Parks series and television network's Gardeners' World, was motivated to plant grapes after seeing her neighbour's grapevines. She's discovered that hobbyists can make intriguing, pleasurable natural wine, which can command prices of upwards of £7 a serving in the growing number of wine bars specialising in low-processing wines. "It is incredibly satisfying that you can actually make quality, natural wine," she says. "It is quite on trend, but really it's resurrecting an old way of making vintage."

"During foot-stomping the grapes, all the wild yeasts are released from the surfaces into the juice," explains the winemaker, ankle deep in a bucket of small branches, pips and red liquid. "That's how wines were historically produced, but industrial wineries add sulphur [dioxide] to eliminate the wild yeast and subsequently incorporate a lab-grown culture."

Challenging Conditions and Creative Approaches

A few doors down active senior Bob Reeve, who motivated Scofield to plant her vines, has gathered his friends to harvest white wine varieties from one hundred vines he has laid out neatly across multiple levels. Reeve, a northern English PE teacher who taught at the local university developed a passion for viticulture on annual sporting trips to Europe. However it is a challenge to grow Chardonnay grapes in the humidity of the valley, with temperature fluctuations moving through from the nearby estuary. "I aimed to make Burgundian wines here, which is a bit bonkers," says Reeve with a smile. "This variety is slow-maturing and very sensitive to mildew."

"I wanted to make Burgundian wines here, which is a bit bonkers"

The unpredictable Bristol climate is not the sole challenge faced by grape cultivators. The gardener has been compelled to install a fence on