To Find the Best Wine Decanters, I Tasted 44 Glasses of Red Wine (You’re Welcome)

NBC’s classic 90’s sitcom Frasier follows the lives of two grandiloquent psychiatrists as they throw a series of disastrous dinner parties and sip a lot of sherry. It’s a great deal of mild-mannered fun, but it also perpetuates a troubling image of wine drinkers. The Drs. Crane and Crane bicker over Bordeaux, scoff at their beer-drinking dad, and turn on each other when it’s time for their wine club to elect a new corkmaster. Please take these complaints with a grain of flaky sea salt. I’m fond of those pompous brothers. I’d simply like to stress that you can appreciate wine without memorizing prime vintages—in fact, you don’t need any prior knowledge or fancy gadgets at all. 

Take the humble wine decanter. Almost anything can be used as a decanter. Pouring wine into a pitcher, vase, porrón, or blender (this transfer process is known as decanting) will give it extra space to breathe, but an elegant glass decanter is much more fun to bring out at a dinner party. It also makes a great gift for a wine lover. To determine which decanters best paired design with functionality, I tested 11 models and sought counsel from sommeliers Sarah Looper and Nicole Erica.

The Winners, at a Glance

The Best Wine Decanter

Godinger Wine Decanter Carafe

$35 $25 at Amazon

The Godinger wine decanter features a light body, angled spout, and classic design. This compact vessel was easy to maneuver even when filled with 750 milliliters of wine and the angled spout cut off drips for mess-free pouring. Its simple shape allowed ample room for oxygen.

The Best Wine Decanter for Older Wines

Riedel Wine Friendly Decanter

$55 at Amazon $55 at Walmart View on Riedel.com

Riedel’s Wine Friendly Decanter is designed for gentle aeration and easy handling. The tall, narrow body offers a just-right level of airflow, protecting older wines while bringing young wines to life.

The Best Wine Decanter for Capturing Sediment

Riedel Cabernet Decanter

$65 at Amazon $65 at Wayfair View on Riedel.com

Thin, light, and effective: The Riedel Cabernet Decanter is a foolproof choice for everyday wines. I loved this model’s paper-thin glass rim—it was easy to stop the flow of wine without a single drip. The base was great for trapping sediment before pouring, making it a good choice for natural wines.

The Tests

• Decanting Test: I poured one 750-milliliter bottle of red wine into each decanter, noting how easy it was to transfer through the neck of the vessel. I used bottles of Field Recordings Fiction Red blend for all of my tests. 
• Aeration Test: I observed each decanter’s aeration method, noting any features or accessories that enhanced oxygen flow.
• Taste Test: Immediately after decanting, I tasted the wine to establish a baseline. I repeated the taste test every 15 minutes for one hour to observe how the wine opened up, repeating the test with every decanter.
• Pouring Test: I used each decanter to pour one glass of wine, taking note of any drips or splashes.
• Sediment Test: I filled each decanter with 750 milliliters of water, a few drops of food coloring, and one teaspoon of coffee grounds to simulate a bottle of red wine with sediment. I poured the contents of each vessel into a Cambro, observing how easy it was to stop the flow of wine and leave sediment behind. 
• Cleaning Test: I hand-washed each decanter, taking note of any design elements that impacted the experience. 

What We Learned

How Does a Wine Decanter Work? 

Decanting is a simple process. Wine, especially wine made from thick-skinned grape varietals like Nebbiolo and Sangiovese, needs air to unlock its best flavors. As Looper explained, “Oxygen helps open up the aromatics.”  In a corked bottle, wine is essentially grounded—it’s locked in its room and can’t play with its friends (oxygen molecules). Once the cork is removed, the party starts. 

A standard wine bottle has an 18.5-millimeter-diameter bore (the official term for the hole in the bottle’s neck). That’s only slightly larger than the diameter of a dime (17.91 millimeters). This slender neck makes for slow airflow, even after you remove the cork. The solution: a decanter. Decanters have more room for air. They enable oxygen exchange, which carries away unpleasant, sulfuric aromas and teases out pleasant-tasting notes like herbs and baking spices. While wine might take several hours to aerate in an open bottle, most red wines need less than an hour in a decanter, thanks to the increased airflow. 

Both the Neck and Base Affected Airflow

Aeration is all about, well, air. The amount of time it takes a bottle of wine to open up depends, in part, on how much wine is exposed to fresh air. Two design factors determine the rate of this exchange: the width of the base and the size of the bore (neck opening).  

A decanter with a flared or bell-shaped base creates a shallow puddle of wine with a large surface area. Taller, thinner vessels, on the other hand, form a deep well of wine with a smaller fraction of liquid on the surface. Erica explains why this matters: “Typically you want to have as much surface area and space [as possible] so that the wine can continue to evolve and develop with [the] oxygen that it touches at the base of the decanter.” Decanters also have a wider bore than wine bottles—this allows more oxygen to flow into the decanter. These two features decrease the time the wine needs to breathe. 

Models like the Godinger and Zalto decanters have a 2.5- to three-inch opening and a full, wide base. During testing, they aerated wines more quickly than the narrow-necked Glasvin decanter, which measures just over an inch.

The Riedel Wine Friendly decanter takes a different approach. This model has a wide neck with a flared opening, allowing plenty of oxygen to enter the vessel, but its body is much more narrow. It’s just 4.55 inches wide, about half the size of the 9.65-inch Spiegelau Authentis Decanter. A smaller surface area might slow down the process a bit, but it’s also a great way to protect older wines. As Looper explains, that’s ideal for older, delicate wine. “Its aromatic value can depreciate very quickly if you expose it to too much oxygen and too quickly.”

Wide Openings and Angled Necks Were Ideal

Looper uses a technique called “splash decanting” to help young, sediment-free bottles open up. In her words, splash decanting involves “popping the cork and dumping that thing straight down into your decanter and letting it slosh around and gurgle and bubble. That way you're getting oxygen into the wine.”

During testing, I confirmed that the size and shape of the glass neck had the biggest impact on the wine-transferring experience. Decanters with straight narrow necks, like the Glasvin and Rabbit Pura, required a super steady hand to pour the wine—the slightest tremble could cause wine to crest over the sides and spill onto the table (not the kind of splash decanting you want!). Flared, angled necks like those found on the Godinger and Le Chateau Wine Decanter are best for splash decanting. The wider opening made it easy to get the wine into the bottle. It was also easy to position the bottle close to the sloping, angled lip so that the wine hit the side of the decanter, spreading out and mixing with as much oxygen as possible. 

The Balance and Weight Distribution Made a Big Difference

Many wine decanters have bell-shaped bases and flared necks; to pour a glass of wine, you’ll naturally grab these vessels by the base of the neck. Decanters with short necks felt significantly heavier. With a longer neck or a more even ratio of neck to base, you’re able to hold the decanter closer to the base—that’s where the center of gravity is. This means you can apply less force to leverage the mass of the wine. (Imagine the difference between holding a five-pound bucket of water in your hand and then holding it out in front of you at the end of a yardstick.)

The length of the decanter’s neck also made a difference when it was time to pour. Even though the Zalto decanter was lightweight, the short neck and large base didn’t provide much control. When filled, decanters are on the heavy side. The weight of 750 milliliters of wine (bottle not included) is around 1.65 pounds. Most decanters fall in the one- to two-pound range. All together, this makes for a hefty serving vessel. Decanters with very short necks (two to three inches long, compared to our favorite models' four to six inches), were especially difficult to control when at their full weight.

Gently Sloped Sides Captured the Most Sediment and Were Easy to Pour

There are two main reasons to decant wine: to add air or to remove sediment. It’s perfectly normal for a wine to include sediment, especially an older bottle. Sediment is an organic material, usually made up of crystallized tartaric acid, yeast cells, and fragments of grape skin. While it might not be pleasant, it’s not harmful if consumed. Professional sommeliers typically remove sediment by sight. It’s easy to use this method at home—just pour wine into a decanter, wait for the sediment to settle, and then look through the glass neck of the vessel while you pour. Stop pouring when you see the dark sediment start to flow into the neck (you’ll have to leave a small amount of wine behind). 

The decanter’s silhouette and the angle of the neck’s connection to the base also have a huge impact on its functionality. In other words: how much you’ll have to tilt the decanter when you pour a glass of wine.

Models with sloped sides, like the Riedel Cabernet Decanter, Godinger Wine Decanter Carafe, and Spiegelau Electric Wine Decanter, only needed to be titled slightly past 90 degrees to pour the very last drop. Decanters like the Schott Zwiesel Crystal Wine Decanter and Spiegelau Authentis Decanter, on the other hand, had a sharp angle—almost 90 degrees—between the neck and the base. This seems fine for the first couple of pours, but once you reach the end of the bottle, they need to be turned almost completely upside down to pour a glass. This makes it difficult to control the flow and separate any remaining sediment without leaving a large amount of wine behind. A surprising number of decanters failed this test. 

In theory, a decanter with a filter can help those with a less practiced hand achieve the same results. However, Rabbit Pura, the one wine decanter with an included filter I tested, failed to perform. Not only did wine back up in the filter, making pouring difficult, but it failed to remove 100% of the coffee grounds from my simulated red wine mixture. 

Do Electric Wine Aerators Work?

Gadget-lovers and gearheads, rejoice—there’s an option for you. The electronic Spiegelau Active Wine Decanter uses the power of the vortex to aerate wines quickly. Just pour the wine into the vessel, drop in the included food-safe magnet, place the decanter on top of the electronic base, and press go. The base spins and creates a little wine whirlpool. (This process is similar to how blenders work, which is why some daring wine people use them to aerate bottles. As the liquid spins and rolls over itself, it gets exposed to lots of oxygen quickly. The default spin cycle lasts for five minutes. In my tests, after two cycles, the alcohol aroma had aired off and the fruit flavors had come forward.

This high-speed aeration could damage older, delicate wines. It’s possible to introduce too much air—if this happens, some of the subtle fruit and herb aromas can dissipate. At about $250, this was by far the most expensive model that I tested. For that kind of cash, you could invest in a few high-quality bottles of wine or some great glassware. Our advice: Just get a standard decanter.

The Criteria: What to Look for in a Wine Decanter 

Look for a lightweight decanter (under two pounds) with a medium-to-wide base. The width of the base or shoulder determines how much wine will be exposed to air—wider decanters aerate more quickly, while medium-wide designs preserve the flavors in delicate wines. Consider the rim: An angled spout with a thin edge makes it easier to stop the flow of wine without any drips. Sloping sides catch sediment. Don’t forget about delight—if you love the look of your decanter, you’ll be excited to display it on your table. 

Our Favorite Wine Decanters 

The Best Wine Decanter

Godinger Wine Decanter Carafe

$35 $25 at Amazon

What we liked: Cute, simple, and inexpensive, the Godinger has it all. This model includes user-friendly features like an angled spout to prevent drips and sloped sides that allow for effortless pouring down to the last glass. This $25 decanter flew through all of my tests. The flared neck was wide enough for stress-free transfer from bottle to decanter, the smooth shoulders caught sediment, and the wine opened up sufficiently within 45 minutes. 

What we didn’t like: The Godinger decanter was the smallest model that I tested. It has a stated capacity of 25.6 ounces—that’s just big enough to hold a standard 750 milliliter (25.4-ounce) bottle of wine. The compact body is pleasantly light and maneuverable but this decanter can’t accommodate magnums or other large-format bottles. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 1.41 pounds
• Dimensions: 8.5 x 10.3 inches
• Material: Glass
• Capacity: 25.6 ounces
  

The Best Wine Decanter for Older Wines

Riedel Wine Friendly Decanter

$55 at Amazon $55 at Walmart View on Riedel.com

What we liked: The Riedel Wine Friendly Decanter performed well in all of my tests, but its pouring performance propelled it to the top of the pack. Every other decanter I tested should be held by the neck to pour a glass. This model can be held by the base—that’s where the wine is. The ability to position your hand closer to the weight of the wine reduces the effort needed to lift the decanter and gives the user maximum control. The body itself is thin and light, with a sharp rim and a charming, fluted design at the neck.   

What we didn’t like: If speed is your priority, this might not be the best choice. The Riedel Wine Friendly Decanter has a modestly wide body and neck. That creates a pool of wine with a relatively small surface area. This design can protect delicate wine flavors for the duration of your dinner party but it won’t aerate as quickly as models with a super-wide flared base. 

Key Specs

• Weight: 0.81 pounds
• Dimensions: 4.55 x 12.05 inches
• Materal: Glass
• Capacity: 46.6 ounces
  

The Best Wine Decanter for Capturing Sediment

Riedel Cabernet Decanter

$65 at Amazon $65 at Wayfair View on Riedel.com

What we liked: This is a thin, light decanter with softly sloping sides. The gentle transition from neck to base allows users to pour the very last drop without completely inverting the decanter. This also makes it easier to catch sediment without leaving too much wine behind. Its flared neck and wide, stable base allow for stress- and spill-free decanting. 

What we didn’t like: This model is effective and reliable, but it’s hardly the life of the party. The Riedel Cabernet Decanter’s simple design probably wouldn’t catch your eye in a lineup of swan decanters, duck decanters, and whatever this is.  

Key Specs

• Weight: 1.64 pounds
• Dimensions: 5.15 x 9.45 inches
• Materal: Glass
• Capacity: 37 ounces

The Competition

• Rabbit Pura Decanting System: The included filter failed to separate fine particles of sediment from wine. The filter also backed up quickly during decanting, causing splashes and spills. 
• Le Chateau Wine Decanter: I liked the Le Chateau decanter’s angled spout, but the sharp neck-to-base angle made it difficult to serve the last few glasses of wine. 
• Schott Zwiesel Crystal Wine Decanter: At three pounds, this was the heaviest model that I tested. This decanter felt unmanageable with the added weight of a bottle of wine. 
• Zalto Denk’Art Axium Decanter: This thin glass decanter is sleek and stylish but the short neck made pouring difficult. 
• Spiegelau Authentis Decanter: This decanter’s steep neck-to-base angle made it difficult to separate sediment without leaving a full glass of wine behind.
• Luigi Bormioli Crescendo Decanter: This decanter made sediment separation easy—the wide shoulders caught most particles—but its thick, rounded rim caused too many drips. 
• Glasvin The Decanter: This beautiful decanter has a thin, impractical neck—so thin, it was difficult to transfer a bottle of wine into it.
• vSpin Wine Aerator: The vSpin aerated wine effectively but it seemed slightly gimmicky—you can achieve the same results with a simple decanter and a little more time. It failed to justify its $250 price tag. 

FAQs

Does decanting wine make it taste better?

Decanting can improve the flavor of some wines by bringing subtle notes to center stage and reducing unwanted aromas. That being said, decanters aren’t miracle machines. If you don’t like the wine you’re drinking, decanting won’t dramatically alter the flavor profile. 

How do you clean a wine decanter?

In most instances, swirling warm water (hot water could crack the glass) around the base of your decanter will be enough to clean it. If your decanter has some ruby stains after sitting with red wine, try filling it with warm water or a diluted mixture of water and distilled white vinegar and letting it soak overnight. If it needs a deep clean, you can try using a gentle abrasive tool like decanter beads or a decanter brush to get into the corners. Avoid using soap—residual soap essence could introduce unwanted flavors into your wine. 

What do wine decanters do?

The technology is simple: Wine decanters enable free oxygen exchange. Exposing wine to air allows gasses to escape and gives sleepy chemical compounds a nudge. As wine breathes, unwanted flavors like volatile acidity and harsh alcohol dissipate while desirable flavors like subtle fruit and herbs come to life. Decanting can also make it easier to separate sediment (crystallized tartaric acid) from older bottles of wine.

Should you decant white wine? 

Let’s not live in a world of should and shouldn’t. When it comes to decanting white (or even sparkling) wine, don’t be afraid to follow your instincts. Sommeliers Sarah Looper and Nicole Erica agree that some white wines can benefit from decanting. If your bottle tastes flat, smells slightly sulfuric (only slightly—if it reeks of rotten eggs, it’s flawed), or tastes a bit too sharp, decanting can help bring out fruit flavors and reduce that extra-hot alcohol aroma. In other words: All sorts of wine can benefit from decanting.

Why We’re the Experts

• Madeline Muzzi is a food writer with over a decade of experience. She’s has written numerous reviews for Serious Eats including compost bins, water filter pitchers, and toaster ovens. 
• Madeline is a certified sommelier. 
• For this review, Madeline tested 11 decanters. She only spit out some of the wine. Madeline also interviewed other sommeliers for this story.