This is an archive article published on October 30, 2021

Volunteers crush the grapes and raise a glass at London winery

"It has been a very long time people have been locked inside their flats, so people are dying to get out, learn something new and learn about winemaking and drink."

Volunteers de-stem grapes by hand at the Renegade Urban Winery in London. (REUTERS/May James)

3 min readLondonOct 30, 2021 10:20 AM IST First published on: Oct 30, 2021 at 10:20 AM IST

Winemakers always hope their customers want to drink their wine. Not many want them to help make it too.

As a startup, east London’s Renegade Urban Winery has limited funds for a big workforce come harvest time, so they turn to volunteers to help with processing the grapes – with payment in fun, food, some teaching and a few glasses to drink.

“People are really eager to learn more about the way wines are made but also to meet people,” founder Warwick Smith said as the volunteers de-stemmed the fruit by hand and then crushed them with their feet.

Grapes are harvested at the Haygrove Evolution vineyard, before being transported to London’s Renegade Urban Winery. (REUTERS/Dylan Martinez)

“It has been a very long time people have been locked inside their flats, so people are dying to get out, learn something new and learn about winemaking and drink.”

# wine