The Urban Grapevine
Hear from members of our urban wine community in London and read their experiences growing and harvesting grapes.
“Great Community Building Power”
“As a company we cherish organic and more importantly, local food. The Urban Wine Company emphasises the importance of living green and we felt that becoming members would be a great next step in our green mission!
I enjoy every bit of growing the grapes, even carrying the compost, but especially drinking the great wine the Urban Wine Co. facilitates. Such initiatives are definitely needed to raise awareness of the importance of food growing.”
— Agnes, King's Cross
“the dream of being a winemaker”
“The Urban Wine Company lets people live the dream of being a winemaker, taking the grapes they have grown in their south-London gardens and doing all the hard work to turn them into surprisingly good wine.
I've been doing it for a while and have come to enjoy the ritual of picking the grapes, taking them to a car park in Tooting, and getting to meet some of the other members of this unusual wine collective. Richard has really created something wonderful here, and I raise a glass to his continued success!”
— Tom Standage, Deputy Editor, The Economist
“brilliantly organising the whole operation”
“Rich was a founder member of and, indeed, essentially is, Urban Wine - known to the collective as Chateau Tooting: He organises the annual collection of members' grapes, their processing into wine and the distribution of the splendid end result - now including fizz as well as still rosé wine.
He also regularly attends local farmers' markets, fairs and events, promoting Chateau Tooting to the South London community - and now to the media. All told no mean feat!
In short, Rich is quite amazing, brilliantly organising the whole operation and representing Château Tooting to the wider world - as well as, of course, greatly appreciated by the ever-growing collective's very grateful members.”
— Robert, an appreciative Urban Wine member since 2017
“It's Given Me a Great Deal of Pleasure”
“My wife found out about The Urban Wine Co. through Twitter. We took part in our first harvest this year. Unfortunately our grapes were ripe early, but we didn't want to miss the harvest fun, so we froze them! The Urban Wine Co. were very welcoming and accepted our frozen grapes without question.
Looking after the vines has given me a great deal of pleasure, and even more so being part of the Urban Wine Co. It's wonderful to be part of something in our community.”
— Josh, Tooting
“What could be more sustainable?”
“We have been working with Richard and The Urban Wine Co for a couple of years now. They make truly local wine, from grapes harvested by their community of local growers, who contribute grapes grown in their gardens and allotments. What could be more sustainable? No industrial pesticides, no negative impact on wildlife, very low mileage. We have used their wine in sustainability-themed tastings as an illustration of the benefits of small and local wine production.
The whole project is also a great way of building community and bringing people together in a way that is perhaps more needed now than ever before. At harvest time, people assemble in Tooting, have their grapes weighed in and are reminded of what a nice bunch of neighbours they have, old and new.
And the wine itself is far better than it has any right to be. We take the sparkling rose, which is a deep reddish-pink wine made from many varieties of red and white grapes. It is crisp and toasty, with bright red berry flavours and a celebratory feel. Our customers love it and are always greatly surprised at its quality.
Richard is the perfect ambassador for Urban Wine Co’s Tooting wines. He is passionate and personable in equal measure and is clearly very good at articulating his passion, as evidenced in his recent appearance on Radio 4’s “Saturday Live”!”
— Liam from Wild + Lees Wine Merchants in Herne Hill London
This is community wine harvest London at its best. Neighbours, grapes, and a brilliant reason to gather.