Does lead free vs lead crystal decanter make any difference in terms of safety? Any suggestions for a good decanter, especially lead free? I see lot of chinese branded decanters, which I don't know their quality.
Decanter
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Chateau Vin
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Decanter
After nearly 12 years or so, the workhorse decanter broke...
Does lead free vs lead crystal decanter make any difference in terms of safety? Any suggestions for a good decanter, especially lead free? I see lot of chinese branded decanters, which I don't know their quality.
Does lead free vs lead crystal decanter make any difference in terms of safety? Any suggestions for a good decanter, especially lead free? I see lot of chinese branded decanters, which I don't know their quality.
Re: Decanter
If you were leaving liquids for long periods of time in an (old) leaded crystal decanter it would pose a potential health risk. This would be more likely for spirits/tawny ports left in a library decanter.
For regular red wine, decanted and consumed promptly, it's less of an issue. But most of the major European manufacturers are all using other (non lead) oxides to get the desired hardness and brightness in their crystal. Over the summer, I listened to a podcast from Maximillien Riedel where he lightly touched upon some of these topics. His main thrust - of course - was that consumers need lots of varietal specific decanters to fullyenjoy the terroir expression, including even magnum sized decanters, so that the whole bottle can be co-mingled at once.
My mini Vinturri aerator broke recently too, so I guess I should go back to old school decanting, and return to Maximillien's good graces. I think an underappreciated consideration when selecting decanters is the ease of cleaning/drying/polishing; many complex geometries end up with difficult to remove internal hard water spots and so on.
For regular red wine, decanted and consumed promptly, it's less of an issue. But most of the major European manufacturers are all using other (non lead) oxides to get the desired hardness and brightness in their crystal. Over the summer, I listened to a podcast from Maximillien Riedel where he lightly touched upon some of these topics. His main thrust - of course - was that consumers need lots of varietal specific decanters to fullyenjoy the terroir expression, including even magnum sized decanters, so that the whole bottle can be co-mingled at once.
My mini Vinturri aerator broke recently too, so I guess I should go back to old school decanting, and return to Maximillien's good graces. I think an underappreciated consideration when selecting decanters is the ease of cleaning/drying/polishing; many complex geometries end up with difficult to remove internal hard water spots and so on.
Last edited by AKR on Thu Feb 16, 2023 7:51 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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JCNorthway
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Re: Decanter
I cannot speak to the lead/no lead question. For everyday use, I use this decanter from Riedel. It's nothing fancy, but it gets the job done. I think it runs about $50 +/-, and is usually available from Amazon.
https://www.riedel.com/en/shop/decanter ... -144000013
https://www.riedel.com/en/shop/decanter ... -144000013
Re: Decanter
About 25 years ago my Mom, a former lab scientist, looked at a decanter of mine and told me that I should just use Erlenmeyer flasks and bought me a few 2L ones.
They work perfectly. Easy to pour from, the right shape, easy to clean, and cheap.
SF Ed
They work perfectly. Easy to pour from, the right shape, easy to clean, and cheap.
SF Ed
Re: Decanter
SF Ed, ah, the romance of wine!
Re: Decanter
These are great and quite a conversation piece! I recommend one seeks the wide neck version for easy cleaning/pouring.SF Ed wrote: ↑Thu Feb 16, 2023 8:12 pm About 25 years ago my Mom, a former lab scientist, looked at a decanter of mine and told me that I should just use Erlenmeyer flasks and bought me a few 2L ones.
They work perfectly. Easy to pour from, the right shape, easy to clean, and cheap.
SF Ed
Re: Decanter
I have one of these. About $600. Gorgeous. Used it twice.
I have a half dozen of these. About $4.50. Ugly. Used regularly.
- B6551569-2570-453F-901A-9E8F0E534941.jpeg (7.98 KiB) Viewed 735 times
I have a half dozen of these. About $4.50. Ugly. Used regularly.
- E1273C50-AD25-4516-BAB0-9E80DE9548C4.jpeg (8.8 KiB) Viewed 735 times
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