Barbaresso’s history begins in Smyrna, with ‘Special Vlassis’, a liquor distilled from local grape must and flavoured with currants, fennel and other aromatics. Produced by the Vlassis family, Greeks living and trading within the Ottoman empire, life was not always peaceful. As it happens, in 1828, while the seas churned with warfare, they called upon the aid of the sea captain they called Il Barbaresco – a corsair who eventually delivered their product safely to the family branch in Corfu. 

Named in honour of the Barbaresco, Barbaresso Oyzo came into being first in the early 1920s, after the eventual sacking of Smyrna, and when George Vlassis moved to Melbourne. To this day, production of Barbaresso Oyzo proudly preserves the heritage of the Vlassis family, each bottle a testament to the enduring legacy of Smyrna’s ancient recipe.