Sniff, swirl, slurp.

Slurp? Did I hear that right?

Yes, says Floyd Cardoz, the executive chef of the Tabla restaurant in Midtown Manhattan, and proceeds to demonstrate it. He’s very serious as he talks about slurping and I learn that, contrary to what Mom has always told me, slurping is accepted etiquette – when you’re drinking wine. Done right, it allows you to experience the full flavor of a wine without appearing gross or being sent off to your room in disgrace.

It’s bleak and windy outside on a chilly winter day and I’m warmly ensconced in Tabla, getting an exclusive lesson on pairing wine with Indian food from an award-winning chef who redefined Indian cuisine and raised it from the level of oil-soaked, cholesterol-boosting $4.99 buffets to a classy gastronomical experience.

When Tabla opened in 1998, its fusion cuisine was considered radical. Purists might have been upset by it, but food lovers have always flocked to the restaurant.
Cardoz says that despite the criticism, he was determined to go ahead with his experiment and break with what was then the accepted tradition.

He advocates a similar attitude toward wine. Break the rules, he says. The old rule about red wine with red meat and white wine with fish and poultry doesn’t necessarily apply to Indian food with its subtle flavors and aromas. Experiment, mix and match, make your own choices, be fearless, he urges, and I feel like a giddy teenager whose curfew has just been lifted.

How do I go about it? Vineyard tours and wine tastings are a great way to try different wines and figure out which you favor. While dining out or browsing at wine stores, ask for advice, because the most expensive wine may not necessarily be the best wine for you.

Even then, just because you like a wine doesn’t mean it will taste good with your food. Pairing a wine with food requires careful consideration. The one unfailing standard is to ensure the wine complements, not overpowers, the food. And vice versa.

“Think of it as a condiment,” Cardoz says. It’s advice he offers liberally during the wine pairing classes he hosts at Tabla. Since the restaurant serves fusion cuisine, its wine list boasts “new world” wines – from Australia, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, California and even India.

The wine room is stocked, floor to ceiling, with an array of bottles and half-bottles. The wide variety of wines – more than 100, Cardoz says – earned the restaurant Wine Spectator’s Award of Excellence in 2003 and 2004.
 
RINKING wine isn’t a tradition in India – though it’s becoming popular now – but wine and Indian cuisine have a lot in common. At their best, they have subtle flavors and aromas, they need to be enjoyed at leisure and both have a dedicated following.

So finding a wine to match your food shouldn’t be a difficult task once you’ve mastered the art of selecting a good one.

Wine drunk by itself tastes different than when it accompanies food. This is because acids, tannins and sugar in the wine react to the food and offer a different taste.

A sweet wine will have a higher sugar and alcohol content than a wine rich in tannin, a chemical that comes from the stalks, pips and skins of red grapes and imparts a pungent taste. Then there is the acidic wine; the right balance of acidity makes a wine crisp and fresh, but an imbalance in either direction can ruin the entire experience.

“The more you taste, the more you will learn – about wines and about wines you like,” says Cardoz, whose wine of choice is a red zinfandel. Red zins, he says generally work very well with Indian food, whereas aged wines don’t do very well with spicy food.

“Wine tasting is an extremely personal experience and so also wine pairing,” Cardoz says. An expert can guide you, “but you should go with what you like. Because, after all, wine is meant for enjoyment along with good food and good company.”

The taste of wine is determined by the type of grape(s) it is made from, although there are other influential factors such as where the grapes were grown, when they were harvested, how the wine was fermented, in what it was stored and for how long. The major varietal grapes include riesling, chardonnay, sauvignon blanc, merlot, zinfandel, pinot noir and cabernet sauvignon.

Sweet white wines include many rieslings and spumante. Sweet red wines include lambrusco and port. Acidic white wines are sauvignon blanc and most sparkling wines. Bitter red wines include cabernet sauvignon, merlot, zinfandel and syrah (or shiraz, as it is known in Australia).

With experience, it becomes easier to discern the flavors of the various grapes. For starters, Cardoz offers the following tips:
Pair lighter wines with lighter or less spicy food and fuller-bodied wines with richer and fattier dishes. Pair the wine with the dominant flavor of the dish and remember to chill the white (in the refrigerator) and store the red wine in a cool area.
 
F you’re serving numerous wines at a party, Cardoz says, start with a sparkling wine or champagne; move to a lighter white wine like a sauvignon blanc or a chardonnay or the wines from the Alsace region such as rieslings and gewurtzes, which have a lot of fruity notes in them; and then go to a red wine like a syrah or a zinfandel or a cabernet or a pinot.

Given that Indian desserts are often too sweet, it’s a good idea to allow guests to finish dessert and then serve a dessert wine or an ice wine along with the coffee.

Keep food flavor in mind when selecting a wine. A dish that is sweet will increase the awareness of bitterness and astringency in wine; high acidity in food will decrease awareness of sourness in wine. Bitter flavors in food increase the perception of bitter, tannic elements in wine. Sourness and salt in food suppress bitter taste in wine.

While all this information is sinking in, get out a clear wine glass – make sure it’s the right one for the kind of wine you plan to drink. Hold it by the stem. Pour wine to the halfway mark. Swirl the glass gently to aerate the wine.

Sniff it. Sip it (or slurp it). Hold it in your mouth for a while and savor it as you slowly gulp it down. Then enjoy the after-taste, the food and the compan