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A decanter is a vessel that is used to hold the decantation of a liquid (such as wine) which may contain sediment. Decanters, which have a varied shape and design, have been traditionally made from glass or lead glass. Their volume is usually equivalent to one standard wine bottle of wine (0.75 litre).
A carafe, which is also traditionally used for serving alcoholic beverages, is similar in design to a decanter but is not supplied with a stopper.
The Ancient Romans pioneered the use of glass as a material. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, glass production became scarce, causing the majority of decanters to be made of bronze, silver, gold, or earthenware. The Venice reintroduced glass decanters during the Renaissance period and pioneered the style of a long slender neck that opens to a wide body, increasing the exposed surface area of the wine, allowing it to react with air.
In the 1730s, British glass makers introduced the stopper to limit exposure to air. Since then, there has been little change to the basic design of the decanter.
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 reduced, because many wines no longer produce a significant amount of sediment as they age.
Many wine writers, such as Karen MacNeil, in the book The Wine Bible, advocate decanting for aeration, especially with very tannic wines like Barolo, Bordeaux wine, Cabernet Sauvignon, Port wine, and Rhône wines while noting that decanting could be harmful for more delicate wines like Chianti and Pinot noir.
The effectiveness of decanting is a topic of debate, with some wine experts such as oenologist Émile Peynaud, claiming that the prolonged exposure to oxygen diffuses and dissipates more aroma compounds than it stimulates, in contrast to the effects of the smaller scale exposure and immediate release that swirling the wine in a drinker's glass has.
It has been reported that the process of decanting over a period of a few hours does not have the effect of softening tannins. The softening of tannins occurs during the winemaking and oak ageing when tannins go through a process of polymerization that can last days or weeks; decanting merely alters the perception of sulfites and other chemical compounds in the wine through oxidation, which can give some drinkers the sense of softer tannins in the wine.
In line with the view that decanting can dissipate aromas, the wine expert, Kerin O'Keefe, prefers to let the wine evolve slowly and naturally in the bottle, by uncorking it a few hours ahead, a practice suggested by wine producers such as Bartolo Mascarello and Franco Biondi Santi.
Other wine experts, such as writer Jancis Robinson, tout the aesthetic value of using a decanter, especially one with an elegant design and made with clear glass, and believe that for all but the most fragile of wines that there is not much significant damage to the wine by decanting it.
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