I've been thinking about using a decanter for wine that I bought years ago. I don't know if it is for wine, but it is similar to decanters that look like this. It is Waterford Crystal, but not ornate. It would be used for a bottle of wine, then washed. It is heavy. If we would not use this, I doubt if I would buy a decanter (although I 'might' someday). We do not drink nor serve nor keep liquor and this dear piece is lost.
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If used, would you use this to clean a decanter after using for wine? Would you use soap, or just rinse.
I have seen decanters in many shapes from many eras. The ship's decanter you show is often used for spirits, but I would find it just as good for wine. Heavy red wines, especially port, will sometimes stain the inside of the decanter with prolonged contact. I suggest you fill the decanter only with enough wine for one meal and not use it for long storage. The wine brush you show should be useful and allow you to scrub all of the interior. Not many people use classic soap anymore for washing dishes. Soap, such as bath soap, will build up a film on surfaces, such as the well-known ring around the bathtub. Just use a good liquid detergent for hand washing dishes. The fine print on the label will likely say it uses biodegradable anionic and/or nonionic surfactants which are the cleaners that replace soap.Some have added lemon or other scent, and many would avoid that. However if you rinse the decanter well several times, I do not detect lemon when using lemon scented Joy. After rinsing the decanter several times, you should use a final rinse or two with distilled water. Some tap water contains traces of minerals that build up deposits inside the glass as remaining water in the decanter evaporates. The decanter needs to be turned upside down until completely dry, especially for the shape you have. This helps any remaining water escape. Racks are made for draining decanters and other tall containers. They usually have pegs over which you invert the decanter. If the decanter is stable when inverted, you may be able to just invert it over a heavy towel overnight, and then stand it upright the next day.
With tea, we only use boiling water immediately after use of the vessel to clean up. Do you think this would be ok for decanters too or do you still recommend soap? What about soaking in really hot, soap-less water?
The decanter shown at the url appears to be fine cut crystal. Sudden temperature changes sometimes will cause such cut glass to crack. I would not use water much warmer than your hands can stand on most glass other than pyrex or other type of glass designed for cooking. Decanters of the type shown often are rather expensive. If one thinks they can taste or smell a residue after using a hand dishwashing detergent and rinsing well, I seem to recall that some wine supply companies offer a special detergent for washing wine glasses and such. I have never found a need for one, but someone else might.
has several bendable wands, that work with most decanters. Seems that they come in about three sizes, and maybe four shapes. I have a drawer full of them and use them after every wine dinner. Some are good for normal wine glassware, too. One thing that I would recommend is a good drying rack/stand for your decanter(s). I've got several, and some work with different styles, better than others. Only decanter that I cannot use a stand on is the Riedel Lyre, which was a gift, but I do love the look. When one starts doing cleaning with decantes, you cannot have too many different stands and cleaning wands. Advice: use a surfactant, like Jet Dry, in your final rinse.
Bleach works well on decanter stains IME. It is much undervalued, and people look at you with horror when you suggest it these days. When I had a vacation job in a bakery (late 70s) it was the ONLY cleaning agent we were allowed to use on working surfaces as it did not taint the bread and cake mixtures.
My mother - who as a young girl was 'in service', as they say - always recommended using lead shot pellets to clean a decanter (swilled round in water as I remember). There must be something in it because one can now buy boxes of small round metal pellets for this same purpose.
Thanks. After I posted, I did order from the wineenthusiast some port glasses, and I saw that bendable wand(s). I wasn't sure whether it was another unusable brush. I guess I'll have to really study them to see which one I want. Maybe I'll look at the drying rack/stand also. I'm still not sure whether I want to go thru all this trouble for one bottle of wine for DH and me.
My port glasses (which were not expensive to begin with ) $22, I think, but with a foil cutter, the S&H of $9 was a little steep for me. I suppose the S&H costs decrease/increase incrementally the more one orders. I'm used to buying everything for "free shipping under $59 or $100, or Amazon free shipping.
My glasses arrived intact, but three out of 4 of them had flaws. I called and they were immediately replaced. Good company in that particular order.
Thanks for the tip re Jet Dry, I wouldn't have thought of it, even though I use it in the dishwasher. I only have two Reidel glasses, but I do wash them by hand; the rest of mine goes in the dishwasher. No parties, so it's always easy. My new dishwasher has a place for the smaller wine glasses to keep them from tipping over. Someday I'm going buy a wine-glass rack for tall stems to put in the bottom rack of the dishwasher, so maybe I'll use them more often.
JFTMOR: I totally quit using decanters (and I have more than half a dozen here at home) years ago, for quite an array of reasons. What I do have at hand is a clean empty bottle and a funnel. For wines with deposit, I double decant: First decant (via funnel) into the empty bottle, rinse the original bottle, pour back the wine, rinse other bottle and funnel, and that's it. The advantages:
- No more hassle with stains in the decanter, especially if a wine isn't finished on the same evening;
- no more problems with drying decanters;
- no more fruit flies for decanters without stoppers;
- much easyer pouring from bottle (with drop-stop foils) minimizing the risk of staining the table cloth;
- no more risk of confusion when serving more than one wine (especially when people help themselves).
To the reasoning that "red wine in a crystal decanter is the most beautiful table decoration" I answer: "Sorry but for us wine geeks the most beautiful table decoration is the original bottle with the original label."
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