Free-blown, wheel-cut carafes. First half of 11th century. Excavated at Teppe Madraseh, Neishapur, Iran. New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.

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Decanters (63541)

A decanter is a vessel used to hold the resulting decantation of a liquid, which contains sediment (such as wine). more...

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Liquid from another vessel is poured into the decanter in order to separate a small volume of liquid, containing the sediment, from a larger volume of "clear" liquid, which is free of such. In the process, the sediment is left in the original vessel, and the clear liquid is transferred to the decanter.

With wine, decanters can also act as a serving vessel for the wine. Decanting wine can also serve the purpose of aerating the wine. This controversial aspect may, depending on which view, ether benefit the wine by smoothing some of the harsher aspects of the wine (like tannins or potential wine faults like mercaptans) or it may be detrimental to the wine by causing it to oxidize and lose some of its aromatic qualities. While the exact design or shape of the decanter can be changed due to fashion, the typical functional aspects of a decanter involve construction from an inert material (such as glass) and the ability to hold at least one standard bottle's worth of wine. The process of decanting is one of the most controversial topics in wine.

History

Throughout the history of wine, decanters have played a significant role in the serving of wine. The vessels would be filled with wine from amphoras and brought to the table where it could be more easily handled by a single servant. The Ancient Romans were believed to have pioneered the use of glass as a material. After the fall of the Roman Empire, glass production was scarce with the majority of decanters being made from bronze, silver, gold and earthenware. The Venetians reintroduced glass decanters during the Renaissance period and pioneered the style of a long slender neck that open to a wide body that increased the surface area of wine to exposure to air. In the 1730s, British glass makers introduced the wide spread use of including a Stopper to limit the constant exposure to air. Since this time there has been little change to the basic aspects of a decanter.

Decanting

Decanters have been used for serving wines that are laden with sediments in the original bottle. These sediments could be the result of a very old wine or one that was not filtered or clarified during the winemaking process. In most modern winemaking, the need to decant for this purpose has been significantly reduce to where not as many wines produce a significant amount of sediment as they age.