It was in October 1995 that Keith Barnett, head of Garretts' property practice, first encountered Duncan Vaughan-Arbuckle, a veteran of the London wine trade, who explained his vision of a new leisure attraction dedicated to wine.
It would be both educational and enjoyable and would, Vaughan-Arbuckle claimed, attract visitors from the four corners of the earth to London's South Bank.
Vaughan-Arbuckle had identified damp and dingy disused railway arches under Southwark Bridge, adjacent to the Globe Theatre as a potential site for the project. These Victorian arches with heights of more than 80ft had a massive floor area in excess of 120,000 sq ft. Vaughan-Arbuckle suggested that Barnett accompany him to inspect the site the following afternoon.
With trains thundering overhead Barnett was led on an exploration of Victoriana, unchanged for 100 years other than for the mountains of bottles and cans left over from various raves, which the arches had housed during the previous summer. The site, which was to be used as a film set in Walt Disney's live action 101 Dalmatians, was once rumoured to contain the burial place of Boadicea.
At that point it was difficult to envisage that a little under four years later Vinopolis City of Wine would open its doors to the public.
Vaughan-Arbuckle had consulted Garretts in the first place because he and his co-founders believed that these arches, which had once been wine vaults, offered a unique site for their proposed venture.
Their only problem was that until they had secured that site, they would not be in a position to go to the market to raise funds for the very substantial work that would be needed to restore the arches and then fit them out.
With some investment seed capital from friends and relatives, and from colleagues to whom he was able to sell the idea, Vaughan-Arbuckle formed Wineworld London plc. Together with Barnett, he hatched a property strategy that would involve obtaining an option to take an agreement for lease over the arches from Railtrack. The lease would be for a 60-year term and would reserve a turnover-based rent for Railtrack.
This lease structure was unique for Railtrack and there began a series of long and tortuous negotiations. More than a year passed before documentation was eventually signed.
"The problem for Wineworld was that what it was suggesting in the arches was very different from anything that Railtrack had ever done before," Barnett says.
"Railtrack was used to letting arches on relatively short-term lettings to car repairers and such like. In those lettings it was easy for it to provide for draconian repossession rights necessary to safeguard its railway undertaking.
"The problem, however, was that my clients were proposing to spend more than £20m on the building and did not want to be left in a position where the building could be removed from them."
The property deal was only the first part of many hurdles. Once it was finally completed, Wineworld was still unable to exercise its option to take over the site until a full engineering survey and significant repair work had been undertaken. And that, in turn, would cost a lot of money.
Despite being situated in what is often trumpeted as Europe's capital of venture capital, raising funds was proving increasingly difficult. Notwithstanding the support of a number of private investors, at the end of 1997 substantial institutional backing was still needed and the company's directors were becoming increasingly frustrated at the number of doors being closed to them.
The significant breakthrough came when finance director, Roger Wood, secured a £2m grant from English Partnerships (EP).
As with all EP grants, the money was strictly to be used for urban regeneration and could not be allocated to any part of the property acquisition costs, nor to consultants' fees. It did, however, spur the company to the raising of the remainder of the equity.
Barnett's team was able to conclude a development and regeneration agreement with EP and with one significant Norwegian-based finance house, Smedvig Capital.
By March 1998 the company had completed its first round of fund-raising, worth £7.2m, which enabled it to start on the initial engineering and building works.
Barnett says: "The funding was perhaps the hairiest time. By the end of 1997 and beginning of 1998 virtually all advisers and consultants had been working on spec. The company was quickly running out of money and it was far from clear whether funds would ever actually be raised for the project."
After Barnett's team concluded the EP development agreement and an agreement with Smedvig Capital, the scheme took on a sense of certainty for the first time, .
The funders were also sceptical and required planning permission to be obtained for alternative use for the arches, just in case Vinopolis did not come off. With the co-operation of Southwark Council, this was also obtained by autumn 1998.
Meanwhile, Wood battled to raise the further equity required to fund the fit-out of the arches.
Vinopolis City of Wine opened its doors to the public at the end of July this year and became fully operational in August.
The cost of building works and fit-out exceeded £20m and, ultimately, more than 90% of the equity was provided by 500 private investors.
Incredibly, only about 7% was raised from the institutional funding market. The remainder of the funding came from a secured debt with Allied Irish Bank.
Visitors to Vinopolis first visit the Wine Odyssey, a pay-to-enter audio-visual tour of the world's wine regions, cultures, history and flavours, aimed principally at adults and culminating in tasting halls. Five tastings are included in the price of an admission ticket. The emphasis is on entertaining everyone from a wine novice to an experienced connoisseur.
Vinopolis also incorporates a Majestic Wine Warehouse, the largest in Britain and the only one that will supply wines by the bottle as well as by the case.
Garretts devised some bespoke provisions for the Majestic letting which include an interaction between Majestic stocks and the wines available in the Vinopolis tasting halls. A wine accessory shop sells glassware, wine and related paraphernalia, cheese, coffee and olive oils.
Vinopolis also has corporate hospitality facilities enabling functions for up to 3,000 or more to be accommodated within the magnificent Victorian vaults. A restaurant and a coffee house/wine bar are to open shortly.
The complex will also house a contemporary art gallery exhibiting part of the Hess Collection. Hess Holding, one of the world's major private modern art collectors, subscribed £480,000 worth of equity in February 1999.
Barnett says: "Half the fun for the legal team comes from taking the venture from the mere seed of an idea through so many obstacles to fruition."
The Vinopolis City of Wine is expected to become a London tourist landmark, although it still has much to do.
The owners estimate that it will attract an average of half a million visitors a year during its first three years of operation. It is still highly dependent on its initial private investors for its continuing success.
However, with the opening up of the South Bank, which includes attractions such as the Globe Theatre and the new Tate Gallery, Vinopolis is well placed to succeed.