Don't let the lower alcohol fool you with this Primitivo; it still packs a punch. With dried fruit, violets, a touch of lavender and sweet spices, this wine is great just to smell, yet after the first sip, you'll be even more hooked on this delightful red. The palate really opens up with sultanas and prunes, chewy tannins and plenty of body.

The story of Cantine Ermes and its label, Casaponte, begins not with a wealthy family or a grand estate, but with an earthquake. On a January night in 1968, a devastating earthquake tore through the Belìce Valley in western Sicily, destroying entire towns and displacing thousands of people. Thirty years later, a group of determined local grape growers decided to rebuild something meaningful from that same wounded land, founding Cantine Ermes in 1998 with a shared dream of creating a world-class cooperative winery. It is one of the great comeback stories in Italian wine, and today the cooperative has grown to over 2,500 members. The wines are rooted firmly in Sicily's remarkable cast of indigenous varieties like Nero d'Avola, Grillo, Catarratto and Nerello Mascalese, grapes that have thrived for centuries under the island's fierce Mediterranean sun. Aside from these Sicilian varieties, what attracted the Good Pair Days team to Cantine Ermes was the ability to source varieties from across Italy, whether classic Sangiovese and Pinot Grigio or lesser-known varieties like Pecorino and Susumaniello.