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Every 20 minutes or so, an ageing diesel railway carriage arrives at a spray-painted stop. Nearby, a police siren cuts through the almost continuous road noise. Daily travelers rush by falling apart, ivy-covered garden fences as storm clouds gather.

It is perhaps the least likely spot you anticipate to find a perfectly formed vineyard. However James Bayliss-Smith has managed to 40 mature vines heavy with round purplish berries on a rambling garden plot situated between a line of 1930s houses and a commuter railway just north of the city downtown.

"I've seen individuals concealing illegal substances or whatever in those bushes," states Bayliss-Smith. "Yet you just get on with it ... and keep tending to your vines."

The cameraman, 46, a filmmaker who also has a fermented beverage company, is not the only local vintner. He has organized a loose collective of growers who produce wine from several hidden city grape gardens nestled in private yards and community plots across the city. It is sufficiently underground to possess an formal title yet, but the collective's WhatsApp group is named Grape Expectations.

Urban Vineyards Across the World

So far, the grower's plot is the only one registered in the Urban Vineyards Association's forthcoming world atlas, which features better-known urban wineries such as the 1,800 vines on the slopes of Paris's renowned Montmartre area and more than three thousand grapevines with views of and within Turin. The Italian-based charitable organization is at the forefront of a initiative re-establishing urban grape cultivation in historic wine-producing nations, but has identified them throughout the world, including cities in Japan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

"Grape gardens help cities remain more eco-friendly and more diverse. These spaces protect land from development by establishing long-term, productive farming plots inside urban environments," says the association's president.

Similar to other vintages, those created in urban areas are a result of the earth the plants thrive in, the vagaries of the climate and the individuals who care for the fruit. "A bottle of wine embodies the charm, community, environment and history of a city," adds the president.

Unknown Polish Grapes

Returning to Bristol, Bayliss-Smith is in a race against time to gather the grapevines he cultivated from a cutting left in his allotment by a Eastern European household. If the precipitation comes, then the birds may take advantage to attack again. "This is the mystery Eastern European grape," he comments, as he removes damaged and mouldy grapes from the shimmering bunches. "The variety remains uncertain what variety they are, but they're definitely hardy. Unlike noble varieties – Burgundy grapes, Chardonnay and additional renowned French grapes – you need not treat them with chemicals ... this could be a special variety that was bred by the Eastern Bloc."

Group Efforts Across Bristol

The other members of the group are also taking advantage of sunny interludes between showers of autumn rain. On the terrace overlooking the city's shimmering waterfront, where historic trading ships once bobbed with barrels of wine from Europe and the Iberian peninsula, one cultivator is harvesting her dark berries from approximately 50 vines. "I love the smell of the grapevines. It is so reminiscent," she remarks, pausing with a container of grapes slung over her shoulder. "It recalls the fragrance of southern France when you roll down the car windows on holiday."

Grant, 52, who has spent over 20 years working for charitable groups in war-torn regions, inadvertently took over the vineyard when she returned to the UK from East Africa with her household in recent years. She felt an strong responsibility to maintain the grapevines in the yard of their new home. "This plot has previously endured multiple proprietors," she says. "I really like the idea of natural stewardship – of passing this on to someone else so they can continue producing from this land."

Sloping Gardens and Natural Production

A short walk away, the remaining cultivators of the group are hard at work on the steep inclines of the local river valley. Jo Scofield has established over one hundred fifty plants situated on terraces in her wild half-acre garden, which tumbles down towards the muddy River Avon. "People are always surprised," she notes, indicating the interwoven vineyard. "They can't believe they are viewing grapevine lines in a urban neighborhood."

Currently, Scofield, 60, is picking bunches of deep violet dark berries from lines 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 inspired to plant grapes after seeing her neighbor's grapevines. She has learned that hobbyists can produce intriguing, pleasurable traditional vintage, which can command prices of upwards of £7 a glass in the growing number of wine bars specialising in minimal-intervention wines. "It is deeply rewarding that you can truly create good, natural wine," she states. "It's very fashionable, but in reality it's resurrecting an old way of producing vintage."

"When I tread the grapes, all the natural microorganisms come off the skins into the liquid," says the winemaker, ankle deep in a bucket of small branches, pips and red liquid. "This represents how wines were made traditionally, but commercial producers introduce preservatives to kill the wild yeast and then incorporate a commercially produced yeast."

Difficult Environments and Creative Approaches

In the immediate vicinity sprightly retiree Bob Reeve, who inspired his neighbor to plant her vines, has assembled his friends to pick white wine varieties from the 100 vines he has laid out neatly across multiple levels. Reeve, a Lancashire-born physical education instructor who worked at the local university developed a passion for viticulture on regular visits to France. However it is a challenge to grow Chardonnay grapes in the dampness of the valley, with temperature fluctuations sweeping in and out from the Bristol Channel. "I wanted to make Burgundian wines in this location, which is a bit bonkers," admits the retiree with a smile. "Chardonnay is slow-maturing and very sensitive to fungal infections."

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

The temperamental local weather is not the only problem encountered by grape cultivators. Reeve has had to install a fence on