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Each quarter of an hour or so, an older diesel railway carriage pulls into a graffiti-covered stop. Close by, a police siren cuts through the near-constant traffic drone. Commuters hurry past falling apart, ivy-covered garden fences as rain clouds form.

It is perhaps the least likely spot you expect to find a well-established vineyard. But James Bayliss-Smith has managed to 40 mature vines heavy with round mauve berries on a sprawling garden plot situated between a line of 1930s houses and a commuter railway just north of the city downtown.

"I've noticed people hiding illegal substances or other items in those bushes," says Bayliss-Smith. "But you just get on with it ... and keep tending to your grapevines."

Bayliss-Smith, forty-six, a documentary cameraman who runs a kombucha drinks business, is not the only local vintner. He's pulled together a informal group of growers who produce wine from four discreet urban vineyards nestled in back gardens and allotments throughout Bristol. It is sufficiently underground to have an formal title yet, but the collective's WhatsApp group is named Vineyard Dreams.

City Wine Gardens Across the World

To date, Bayliss-Smith's allotment is the only one registered in the Urban Vineyards Association's forthcoming global directory, which includes more famous urban wineries such as the 1,800 vines on the hillsides of Paris's renowned artistic district neighbourhood and more than three thousand vines with views of and inside the Italian city. Based in Italy charitable organization is at the forefront of a initiative re-establishing urban grape cultivation in traditional winemaking nations, but has discovered them throughout the world, including cities in Japan, South Asia and Central Asia.

"Vineyards assist cities stay more eco-friendly and more diverse. They protect land from development by establishing permanent, productive farming plots inside urban environments," says the association's president.

Similar to other vintages, those created in urban areas are a product of the earth the plants thrive in, the vagaries of the climate and the people who tend the fruit. "Each vintage embodies the charm, community, environment and history of a urban center," notes the president.

Mystery Eastern European Variety

Back in Bristol, the grower is in a race against time to harvest the grapevines he grew from a plant left in his garden by a Eastern European household. Should the rain comes, then the pigeons may take advantage to attack again. "Here we have the mystery Eastern European variety," he comments, as he removes bruised and mouldy berries from the shimmering clusters. "We don't really know their exact classification, but they are certainly hardy. Unlike premium grapes – Burgundy grapes, white wine grapes and other famous French grapes – you need not treat them with chemicals ... this could be a special variety that was developed by the Soviets."

Group Efforts Throughout Bristol

The other members of the collective are also making the most 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 Spain, Katy Grant is harvesting her rondo grapes from approximately fifty vines. "I adore the aroma of these vines. It is so evocative," she remarks, pausing with a container of fruit resting on her arm. "It's the scent of southern France when you open the vehicle windows on vacation."

The humanitarian worker, fifty-two, who has devoted more than 20 years working for humanitarian organizations in conflict zones, inadvertently took over the vineyard when she returned to the United Kingdom from East Africa with her family in recent years. She experienced an strong responsibility to look after the grapevines in the garden of their recently acquired property. "This plot has previously survived multiple proprietors," she explains. "I really like the idea of environmental care – of passing this on to future caretakers so they continue producing from this land."

Sloping Gardens and Traditional Winemaking

A short walk away, the final two members of the group are busily laboring on the steep inclines of the local river valley. Jo Scofield has cultivated over 150 vines situated on terraces in her wild half-acre garden, which tumbles down towards the muddy local waterway. "Visitors frequently express amazement," she notes, indicating the tangled grape garden. "They can't believe they can see rows of vines in a urban neighborhood."

Currently, the filmmaker, 60, is picking bunches of deep violet Rondo grapes from rows of plants arranged along the hillside with the assistance of her daughter, Luca. Scofield, a documentary producer who has contributed to Netflix's nature programming and television network's Gardeners' World, was inspired to cultivate vines after seeing her neighbour's grapevines. She's discovered that hobbyists can produce intriguing, pleasurable traditional vintage, which can sell for more than £7 a serving in the growing number of wine bars specialising in low-processing wines. "It is deeply rewarding that you can actually create good, natural wine," she says. "It's very on trend, but in reality it's reviving an traditional method of producing vintage."

"During foot-stomping the fruit, all the natural microorganisms are released from the skins into the juice," says Scofield, partially submerged in a container of tiny stems, seeds and red liquid. "This represents how vintages were made traditionally, but commercial producers add sulphur [dioxide] to eliminate the wild yeast and then incorporate a commercially produced yeast."

Difficult Environments and Inventive Solutions

A few doors down sprightly retiree Bob Reeve, who inspired his neighbor to plant her vines, has assembled his companions to harvest Chardonnay grapes from the 100 plants he has arranged precisely across multiple levels. Reeve, a northern English PE teacher who worked at the local university developed a passion for viticulture on annual sporting trips to France. However it is a challenge to cultivate this particular variety in the humidity of the gorge, with cooling tides sweeping in and out from the Bristol Channel. "I aimed to produce Burgundian wines in this location, which is somewhat ambitious," admits Reeve with a smile. "This variety is slow-maturing and very sensitive to fungal infections."

"I wanted to make Burgundian wines in this environment, which is a bit bonkers"

The temperamental local weather is not the only challenge encountered by grape cultivators. Reeve has been compelled to erect a fence on