Pairings: Longboard Vineyards merlot shines with fall sausages

Our Wine of the Week, Longboard Vineyards 2015 Russian River Valley Dakine Vineyards Merlot ($35), is an impressive expression of a varietal that has been both beloved and reviled. In recent vintages, its reputation has been rehabilitated, and this wine is a great example of the varietal.

For a time, winemakers seemed to think that only over-extracted merlots would fetch a decent price, but that attitude has been eroded significantly in the past few years. You can trust merlot once again.

This wine is as suave and elegant as the winery's other wines, and it also possesses a signature lightheartedness, too.

There are pretty bursts of black fruit, especially black plums, Bing cherries and ripe blackberries, with hints of star anise, coffee and brambles after a first fall wine.

The texture is both smooth and supple, with an appealing depth, and the finish is long and voluptuous.

It's a good wine, even a great wine, but you don't have to take it overly seriously. You can have fun with it. Enjoy at the beach, around a campfire, at a fall barbecue or with take-out pizza on a Monday night when you really don't feel like cooking.

It will, of course, stand up to an elegant meal, too, if that is your pleasure, but you won't insult it by taking a more casual approach, as I do with today's recipe, one of my favorite fall dishes.

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Braised Sausages with Warm Potato Salad

Makes 3 to 4 servings

3 medium shallots, minced

- Kosher salt

1/4 cup sherry vinegar

2 tablespoons olive oil

6-8 Caggiano sausages, preferably Black Olive or Sicilian

3 cups dry white wine

1 1/2 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed and thinly sliced

1/3 -1/2 cup best-quality extra virgin olive oil

- Black pepper in a mill

2 tablespoons minced Italian parsley

Put the shallots in a bowl, season with salt and cover with vinegar. Set aside.

Put the olive oil in a medium sauté pan set over medium heat, add the sausages and brown lightly all over. Pour the wine into the pan, increase the heat to high and the moment the wine boils lower the heat so that the liquid just barely simmers. Cover the pan and cook until the sausages are very tender, about 45 minutes.

While the sausages braise, put the potatoes in a sauce pan, cover with water and season generously with salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, about 10 to 15 minutes, depending on how thickly they are sliced.

Drain the potatoes and keep warm.

When the sausages are tender, transfer them to a warm plate and cover to keep hot. Return the pan to the heat and boil the cooking liquid over high heat until about 3 tablespoons remains.

Pour the liquid over the potatoes.

Add 1/3 cup of the extra virgin olive oil to the vinegar and shallots, taste and add the remaining olive oil if needed for balance. Correct for salt and season with several generous turns of black pepper. Pour the vinaigrette over the potatoes and toss very gently.

Mound the potatoes in the center of a warm serving bowl or platter and sprinkle with the parsley. Arrange the sausages around the potato salad and enjoy right away.

Michele Anna Jordan is the author of 24 books to date. Email her at michele@micheleannajordna.com.