Why Use A Wine Decanter?

Decanters are not only known as a fancy vessel used to decant your wine but also a historical piece. Decanters have been used throughout history for special traditional events by a variety of cultures. George Ravenscroft curated the oldest surviving decanter in London in 1673. Pieces of art like his remind us of the culture behind such a simple piece today that we think nothing of. 

The question is, why should we use them in a world as modern as it is now? The short answer is to support your local artists. Most glassblowers all over the world create beautiful, unique decanters. If your local glassmaker is not selling the one you’re interested in, always ask if they will commission a certain style. Of course, the prices will vary, but ultimately, you’ll get the same product for the same price or even less than what you’d find at a corporate store. 

Why bother with a decanter in the first place?

The fact is, a lot of people don’t bother with wine decanters. Many wine enthusiasts are the individuals that purchase and collect decanters. If you’re inspired to be a wine enthusiast, it would be in your best interest to bother with a wine decanter. Not only can you make use of them, but they also second as a beautiful art piece to display.

There’s a variety of household items you can use in place of a wine decanter. Any glassware, really, mason jars, pitchers, glass bowls. The only benefit of a wine decanter that sells many people is how efficiently the vessel can store your leftover decanted wine. Most wine decanters on the market – or even locally – have lids with seals. Sealing and storing your wine has great benefits for your wine. 

Is a wine decanter worth it?

This will greatly depend on your personal preference. Decanters are worth it to many people, acting as a wine utensil and a piece of art and, in some cases, as an heirloom. Wine enthusiasts will often collect decanters. 

What determines if a wine decanter is worth it can depend on the type of wine you’re consuming and how often you’re consuming it. This is because certain wines out there will benefit most from decanting. Some will not benefit at all from decanting. If you’re decanting wine every week, a decanter would be beneficial to you. However, if you only open a bottle once in a while, you most likely won’t need one.

What is the point of a decanter?

A decanter’s purpose is to act as a container or a vessel to hold the wine during the decanting process. As stated before, you can use many other household items as a decanter within your own home. However, to understand the point of a decanter, you must understand the purpose of decanting in general. 

Decanting is a process in which you pour your wine from its original bottle into another clean vessel in slow motion in order to separate the unpleasant sediments. Sediments build up in the wine over time and often need to be separated during decanting.

Which wines should be decanted?

There are only very particular wines that will even benefit from decanting. For example, red wines create more build-up over time than white wines. Also, older red wines will benefit the absolute most from decanting. On the other hand, white wines will very rarely contain sediment build-up that needs to be decanted. And younger wines will most likely not benefit at all from decanting. 

In conclusion, if you find yourself often decanting older red wines – older than five years – a decanter will be worth the investment. However, any other factors will prove to determine a decanter will not be worth the investment to you personally. 

Should you even bother to decant cheap wine?

No, you should not even bother to decant cheap wine. Most cheap wines that can be found at supermarkets are genuinely not going to benefit at all from decanting. This is because big corporate companies that create and sell those cheap wines are creating them in such a process that is made for two things.

Quick and easy consumption. Many consumers that purchase from these big corporate companies are often looking for a quick fix. Therefore, the markets for purchasing these cheap wines are booming. Younger and even older adults will purchase cheap wines for many everyday life events. A quiet evening, a nightly party, birthdays, and even reunions – you name it, they buy it. 

Summary

When decanting wine, a decanter is not a necessity. However, it is a custom that’s been used throughout wine’s history. Many wine enthusiasts still practice the custom. Unfortunately, many don’t – the choice is up to your personal preference. The point of a decanter is to act as a vessel that holds the decanted wine, serves it, and stores it in some circumstances. In terms of a decanter being worth it, it greatly depends on factors such as the age of the wine, the type of the wine, and how often you are serving those wines. Cheap wines, however, will not benefit from decanting due to the fact that the cheap wine industry creates the wines to be quick, easy, and cheap.