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Each 20 minutes or so, an older diesel railway carriage pulls into a spray-painted stop. Close by, a police siren cuts through the near-constant road noise. Daily travelers rush by falling apart, ivy-covered garden fences as rain clouds form.

It is maybe the least likely spot you anticipate to find a perfectly formed vineyard. But James Bayliss-Smith has cultivated 40 mature vines sagging with round purplish grapes on a sprawling garden plot sandwiched between a line of 1930s houses and a local rail line just above the city downtown.

"I've seen people concealing heroin or whatever in those bushes," states the grower. "But you simply continue ... and keep tending to your grapevines."

Bayliss-Smith, 46, a documentary cameraman who also has a kombucha drinks business, is among several local vintner. He's pulled together a loose collective of cultivators who make vintage from several discreet city grape gardens tucked away in back gardens and community plots throughout the city. The project is too clandestine to have an formal title so far, but the collective's WhatsApp group is called Vineyard Dreams.

City Wine Gardens Across the Globe

So far, the grower's allotment is the sole location listed in the City Vineyard Network's upcoming global directory, which features more famous city vineyards such as the 1,800 plants on the hillsides of the French capital's historic Montmartre area and over 3,000 vines overlooking and inside the Italian city. Based in Italy non-profit association is at the forefront of a initiative reviving city vineyards in traditional winemaking countries, but has discovered them all over the world, including urban centers in Japan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

"Grape gardens help cities remain greener and more diverse. They preserve land from development by creating permanent, yielding farming plots within cities," explains the organization's leader.

Like all wines, those produced in urban areas are a result of the earth the plants grow in, the vagaries of the weather and the individuals who care for the fruit. "A bottle of wine represents the beauty, local spirit, environment and heritage of a urban center," notes the president.

Unknown Polish Variety

Back in the city, the grower is in a race against time to gather the vines he cultivated from a plant abandoned in his allotment by a Eastern European household. If the rain arrives, then the birds may seize their chance to feast again. "This is the mystery Polish variety," he comments, as he removes bruised and mouldy grapes from the shimmering clusters. "The variety remains uncertain what variety they are, but they are certainly hardy. In contrast to noble varieties – Pinot Noir, white wine grapes and additional renowned French grapes – you need not spray them with pesticides ... this is possibly a special variety that was bred by the Eastern Bloc."

Group Activities Throughout Bristol

Additional participants of the group are also making the most of bright periods between bursts of autumn rain. On the terrace overlooking Bristol's glistening harbour, where historic trading ships once floated with barrels of wine from Europe and Spain, Katy Grant is harvesting her rondo grapes from about 50 plants. "I love the smell of the grapevines. It is so evocative," she remarks, stopping with a container of grapes resting on her shoulder. "It recalls the fragrance of Provence when you roll down the car windows on vacation."

Grant, 52, who has devoted more than 20 years working for humanitarian organizations in war-torn regions, unexpectedly took over the grape garden when she returned to the UK from East Africa with her family in recent years. She felt an strong responsibility to maintain the grapevines in the garden of their recently acquired property. "This plot has already endured three different owners," she says. "I deeply appreciate the concept of environmental care – of handing this down to someone else so they keep cultivating from this land."

Terraced Vineyards and Traditional Winemaking

Nearby, the final two members of the group are busily laboring on the steep inclines of the local river valley. One filmmaker has cultivated over one hundred fifty plants perched on terraces in her expansive property, which tumbles down towards the muddy local waterway. "People are always surprised," she says, gesturing towards the interwoven grape garden. "They can't believe they can see rows of vines in a city street."

Currently, Scofield, sixty, is picking bunches of dusty purple dark berries from rows of plants slung across the cliff-side with the help of her child, Luca. Scofield, a wildlife and conservation film-maker who has worked on Netflix's nature programming and BBC Two's Gardeners' World, was motivated to cultivate vines after observing her neighbour's vines. She has learned that amateurs can make interesting, pleasurable natural wine, which can sell for upwards of £7 a glass in the increasing quantity of establishments focusing on minimal-intervention vintages. "It is incredibly satisfying that you can actually make quality, natural wine," she states. "It is quite on trend, but really it's reviving an old way of making wine."

"During foot-stomping the grapes, the various wild yeasts are released from the skins into the juice," says Scofield, partially submerged in a container of tiny stems, pips and red liquid. "That's how wines were historically produced, but industrial wineries add sulphur [dioxide] to eliminate the natural cultures and subsequently add a lab-grown yeast."

Difficult Environments and Inventive Approaches

A few doors down sprightly retiree Bob Reeve, who motivated his neighbor to establish her grapevines, has gathered his companions to harvest Chardonnay grapes from one hundred plants he has laid out neatly across multiple levels. The former teacher, a northern English physical education instructor who taught at Bristol University developed a passion for viticulture on regular visits to France. However it is a difficult task to cultivate this particular variety in the dampness of the valley, with cooling tides sweeping in and out from the Bristol Channel. "I aimed to produce Burgundian wines in this location, which is a bit bonkers," says the retiree with a smile. "This variety is slow-maturing and very sensitive to fungal infections."

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

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