Seriously - I own app. 20 decanters, various brands (some bought used on a flee market, some received as a present) … (need them for my tastings)
I haven´t detected the slightest difference on the wine between them …
except reg. handling … that the (so called) Barolo-decanters (very broad at the bottom) are not very practical when serving the wine into the stems (and quite hard to clean).
So I´d recommend that you buy what you like optically … and what´s quite low priced …
I own 12 decanters that I recently picked up at K-mart. They cost me about $3.95 on sale. Regular price $5. They are indestructible, easy to clean, go in the dishwasher and they work just fine. Not as light as the Reidel they sell at Target, but the upper neck is narrow enough to be comfortable in all but the smallest hands. Here they are and I recommend them highly for normal use, and even for the average dinner party.
For the fancy dinner party, or when I invite the family over for thanksgiving or Passover, I have a Waterford decanter I picked up at the factory in Ireland. Hand made cut crystal. The light sparkles through the wine and when it hits it just right, it reflects red flashes around the room. It weighs a ton and is a pain in the ass to clean, so I only use it for very special occasions. At most once a year.
I like the idea of the Erlenmeyer flask because it’s funny but it seems likely to be a pain in the ass to clean. It also costs twice as much as the Anchor Hockings from K-Mart.
I have two that are almost identical. I purchased one filled with Paul Masson wine for about the same price. The second one I found empty in the Sears parking lot in Somerville, Massachusetts many, many years ago.
As you said, easy to clean and indestructible.
Out of all my expensive decanters I reach for a $14 one I grabbed at target most often.
I use round flat bottom boiling flasks, but same idea. Mine are Corning Pyrex, but these from Amazon Prime would work just fine. $12.53/each with two-day delivery.
https://www.amazon.com/United-Scientific-FG4060-1000-Borosilicate-Capacity/dp/B00ES3U08W/ref=sr_1_2?s=industrial&ie=UTF8&qid=1519661756&sr=1-2&keywords=1000ml+boiling+flask
I also love the Erlenmeyer flasks.
Here’s a sampling from my collection, most of which I’ve picked up at thrift shops. (I think people receive them as wedding gifts and don’t know what to do with them, as you find many nice ones for under $10. If they’ve been used as vases and have muck at the bottom, denture tablets do a great job of cleaning them up.) I picked up the tall conical one at the bottom right recently for $2.50 at my nearby Salvation Army store.
I don’t like decanters that have very large bottoms. I think you lose aromas with those. Alan Rath showed pretty definitively that there is very little oxygen penetration from the surface of the wine after it’s been put in a decanter. But lots of volatile aroma compound can evaporate with a large surface area.
My go-to decanter is the one on the left, which has proved very sturdy. I often take it to restaurants and other people’s places. (Acquired in an antiques mall circa 2003.) My “Since 1851” Paul Masson decanter – similar to Jay’s – is on the right. I’m told this was Orson Welles’s favorite.
This - except go with a 2L narrow mouth version. By doing so, you’ll have more room for aeration, and if you are pouring more than one bottle of the same wine, you’ll have the room to fit it (or a magnum).
You can find these on Amazon or through school supply companies (or lab companies). Be specific about the narrow mouth ones - the wide mouth ones are just a bit more unwieldy.
Cheers.
I’ve got two of the Paul Massons!
Schott Zwiesel “Cru Classic” decanter. I like the shape better than their other decanters and it’s also made of “Tritan” crystal, which hopefully lends some durability to what is usually quite a fragile item. Not nearly as durable as some of those thick crystal carafes. While compact, when filled with a 750ml, the wine reaches the widest point of the decanter, which means there is room to hold a bit more if opening a magnum.
I like the shape of the Zalto Axiom the best though.
We’re showing our age.
Love my Zalto Axiom. Perfect shape, weight and reasonable to hand clean.
I recently found a Riedel cab decanter at a great price while thrifting with my kids. I have a few others that I received as gifts, but I really like the flask idea. I was looking for a few decanters for a restaurant we regularly go BYOB at, and I think this would be great. One issue with the Riedel is that I always feel that it’s so fragile even though I haven’t had an issue with it.
Reidel at Target.
For blind tastings I use 1L carafes I got at a restaurant supply place, $1.95 each for a dozen.
I like the Riedel Amadeo I was given as a gift for elegance and ease of use. Cleaning is a bit of a pain but I have brushes.
Nice design and seems quite practical as well . . .
I thought the point of decanting (other than removing sediment) was to allow volatiles to escape, not to “get oxygen into the wine.” ![[stirthepothal.gif]](/uploads/db3686/original/2X/f/f40faec63ca1018898a40805efbf9f0066a3d205.gif "[stirthepothal.gif]"){kind=small}
Shots fired!