'Every London borough is represented in this wine'

Richard Sharp co-founded The Urban Wine Company in 2009

A community winemaker from south-west London has said every one of the capital's boroughs "is represented in this wine".

Richard Sharp co-founded the Urban Wine Company in 2009 following a trip to France, with the intention of bringing together grapes grown in gardens and allotments across the capital.

In September each year, members of the group harvest their fruit and collate their growing efforts before sending them off to a commercial winery where experts handle the winemaking process.

"This year, 2025, we had a really good year. Because cities are getting warmer, we are seeing more grapes," Mr Sharp said.

"Generally, a warmer climate means that we are getting more grapes in the city," he said.

"But there have been some years where it's almost too hot.

"We're seeing more people contacting us where there seems to be a greater volume of grapes in this brilliant city."

Tooting Sparkling Rosé contains grapes from every London borough

Mr Sharp said all grapes from different gardens and allotments were welcomed for the community wine, which he described as "very democratic".

"It brings different grapes. Some of our members know what the grapes are, some don't. They all get mixed together and then that wine goes back to our members.

"It's a good use of local food for local use."

The outcome is a still and a sparkling rosé for members, a sparkling white, and a red.

"Our pink fizz is our popular one, and that's the one that has all of our city grapes in it."

'Beautiful chaos'

Mr Sharp said people "turn up in all different vehicles.

"They come down on bikes, they come down on the Tube, they get the bus, they walk.

"At harvest time we have this beautiful chaos that's created and at the end we get our wine - a London wine.

"If we were to mark the bottle you would see grapes from Lambeth, from Wandsworth, from Chiswick, from Tower Hamlets, from Southwark.

"You can keep going anywhere in London, every borough has the grapes in that wine."

Ed Howden's grapes contributed to the community wine for the first time this year

One of the contributors is Ed Howden, whose Stockwell vines finally bore fruit in September, six years after they were planted on his roof terrace.

He has two vines of white Pinot grapes, which produced six bunches this year following "years of greenery".

He said he planted his vines after he heard about the Urban Wine Company.

Also in the bottle is Vauxhall City Farm, which has vines that predate the current community garden and has been contributing to the community winemaking since 2023.

Gardener Jessica Wiper said they get a really good yield because they are so established and the site is open and south-facing.

"Every year we get together and harvest together. It's actually just a really nice group activity.

"Sometimes they're quite hard to spot so it just really takes time and patience to get beneath the leaves and start snipping."