Roots Divino

Manos and Nikolas Smyrlakis were building careers elsewhere when Greece's crisis sent their generation abroad. They went the other way — home, and into the family trade. Their relatives own Callicounis Distilleries in Kalamata, working since 1850 and the oldest still running in the country, and in 2013 the brothers started Roots there, reviving old Greek liqueur recipes with ingredients gathered from around the country.

Roots Divino came out of that. The name is the argument twice over: back to their roots, and di vino — of wine. Vermouth is a wine-based drink, and almost every alcohol-free version on the market is built on water and flavoring instead. Roots Divino starts from Greek wine, which is what lets it behave like vermouth in a glass rather than approximate one.

Production moved to Lesbos in 2019 as demand grew. The reference point for the drink itself is older than vermouth: the wormwood wine described by Hippocrates, from the neighboring island of Kos.