My first decanter!
I really enjoyed using a decanter. I found it to be much more elegant than drinking out of the bottle, and I did find it to be a much different taste than when I just pour wine right out of the bottle.
This decanter is a beautiful, modern design. I really like the large bell shape at the bottom, and the neck is very striking. However, the lip design is not correct for pouring. At least, I could not do anything to keep it from dripping. There was always one drop on the lip after I poured it out. Since I used to pour wine for a living, this really surprised me. I am pretty sure my skills are not that rusty!
The first wine we tried in the decanter was a red house blend. We decided that we should try it both before and after being decanted. The initial taste was absolutely horrible! I could not believe how awful this wine was. It had a sharp tanginess that really overpowered the wine. After sitting in the decanter for one hour, the wine was actually drinkable! I mean, it still wasn't a great wine. But that nasty aftertaste was gone. I'm not sure if it was because of the aeration of pouring it into the decanter, or letting it "breath" in the decanter, or some combination, but it was well worth waiting an hour. Honestly, if this wine had not been in the decanter, I may have dumped it out and given up completely.
The second wine we tried was three buck Chuck. Yes, a lovely Charles Shaw Shiraz. I actually really like this wine; it is a very simple wine, without a lot of complex flavors. It goes well with just about anything you may be eating. (I don't remember what we ate, but I'm sure it paired well with it.) There was less of a difference in flavor here, but the decanter really did mellow out the flavor. I really preferred the wine after it was decanted, although my dinner companion did not, and felt that something was missing.
All in all, I really love using the decanter. Despite it's flaw, I will continue to use it because of how much it improves the taste of the wine. I will just make sure to have a towel handy to wipe up that one lone drop after every pour! I received this product for free in exchange for my honest and unbiased review.
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