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Each quarter of an hour or so, an ageing diesel train pulls into a graffiti-covered station. Close by, a police siren pierces the almost continuous road noise. Commuters hurry past collapsing, ivy-covered fencing panels as rain clouds form.

This is maybe the last place you anticipate to find a well-established grape-growing plot. However James Bayliss-Smith has managed to four dozen established plants sagging with round purplish berries on a rambling garden plot situated between a line of historic homes and a local rail line just above Bristol town centre.

"I've noticed individuals hiding heroin or whatever in those bushes," states Bayliss-Smith. "But you simply continue ... and keep tending to your grapevines."

The cameraman, 46, a documentary cameraman who runs a kombucha drinks business, is among several urban winemaker. He has pulled together a loose collective of growers who produce wine from several discreet urban vineyards tucked away in private yards and allotments throughout the city. The project is sufficiently underground to have an formal title yet, but the group's messaging chat is named Vineyard Dreams.

City Wine Gardens Around the Globe

To date, the grower's allotment is the only one registered in the Urban Vineyards Association's upcoming world atlas, which features more famous urban wineries such as the eighteen hundred vines on the slopes of Paris's historic Montmartre neighbourhood and more than three thousand vines with views of and within the Italian city. The Italian-based non-profit association 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 Japan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

"Grape gardens help cities stay more eco-friendly and ecologically varied. They preserve land from development by establishing long-term, productive agricultural units inside urban environments," explains the organization's leader.

Like all wines, those produced in urban areas are a product of the earth the plants grow in, the vagaries of the climate and the individuals who care for the grapes. "A bottle of wine embodies the beauty, community, environment and history of a city," notes the spokesperson.

Mystery Eastern European Grapes

Back in Bristol, Bayliss-Smith is in a race against time to gather the grapevines he cultivated from a cutting abandoned in his garden by a Eastern European household. Should the precipitation arrives, then the pigeons may seize their chance to attack again. "Here we have the mystery Eastern European grape," he comments, as he cleans damaged and mouldy grapes from the shimmering clusters. "The variety remains uncertain their exact classification, but they're definitely disease-resistant. In contrast to noble varieties – Burgundy grapes, white wine grapes and other famous European varieties – you need not treat them with pesticides ... this could be a special variety that was bred by the Soviets."

Collective Efforts Throughout the City

The other members of the group are additionally taking advantage of sunny interludes between bursts of autumn rain. At a rooftop garden with views of the city's shimmering waterfront, where medieval merchant vessels once bobbed with casks of vintage from Europe and Spain, one cultivator is harvesting her rondo grapes from about 50 plants. "I love the aroma of these vines. It is so reminiscent," she says, stopping with a basket of grapes slung over her shoulder. "It recalls the fragrance of Provence when you open the vehicle windows on holiday."

The humanitarian worker, 52, who has devoted more than two decades working for humanitarian organizations in conflict zones, inadvertently took over the grape garden when she moved back to the UK from Kenya with her family in recent years. She experienced an strong responsibility to maintain the grapevines in the garden of their new home. "This vineyard has already survived multiple proprietors," she explains. "I deeply appreciate the concept of environmental care – of passing this on to future caretakers so they can keep cultivating from the soil."

Sloping Vineyards and Traditional Winemaking

A short walk away, the final two members of the collective are busily laboring on the steep inclines of the local river valley. One filmmaker has established over one hundred fifty plants situated on ledges in her expansive property, which tumbles down 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 city street."

Currently, the filmmaker, sixty, is picking clusters of deep violet dark berries from lines of plants arranged along the cliff-side with the help of her daughter, her family member. Scofield, a documentary producer who has contributed to streaming service's Great National Parks series and BBC Two's Gardeners' World, was motivated 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 £7 a serving in the growing number of wine bars focusing on minimal-intervention wines. "It's just incredibly satisfying that you can truly create good, traditional vintage," she states. "It is quite on trend, but in reality it's reviving an old way of producing wine."

"When I tread the grapes, all the wild yeasts come off the skins into the juice," says Scofield, partially submerged in a container of small branches, seeds and red liquid. "That's how wines were historically produced, but commercial producers add sulphur [dioxide] to eliminate the wild yeast and subsequently incorporate a commercially produced yeast."

Difficult Environments and Creative Approaches

A few doors down sprightly retiree Bob Reeve, who inspired Scofield to establish her vines, has gathered his companions to pick Chardonnay grapes from the 100 vines he has arranged precisely across multiple levels. The former teacher, a Lancashire-born physical education instructor who taught at the local university developed a passion for viticulture on annual sporting trips to France. But it is a challenge to cultivate Chardonnay grapes in the dampness of the valley, with temperature fluctuations sweeping in and out from the Bristol Channel. "I wanted to make French-style vintages in this location, which is somewhat ambitious," admits Reeve with a smile. "This variety is late to ripen and very sensitive to mildew."

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

The unpredictable Bristol climate is not the only challenge encountered by grape cultivators. The gardener has been compelled to erect a fence on