Zwiesel Glas Air Sense

The 150 cl decanter is the size for red wine: a whole bottle fits with room to spare, so you can swirl without spilling. The 75 cl is there for white wine, for a half bottle or for a red you do not want to leave standing for hours.

Alongside them are two items that are not ornaments but necessities. Cleaning beads of 40 millimetres turn the residue out of a rounded belly no brush can reach, and the cleaning brush is long enough to pass through the narrow neck. Buy a decanter without either one and sooner or later you will be left with a wine line that will not come off.

Pour gently and let the wine run down the wall. A young, sturdy red usually needs thirty to sixty minutes in the decanter before the tannins soften. An old wine is another matter: pour it across carefully to leave the sediment behind and get it onto the table fairly quickly.

White wine should stay cool, so decant it briefly and put the decanter back in a wine cooler.

Rinse a decanter with warm water straight after use, without washing-up liquid; any soap residue left behind will show up in the taste of the next bottle. If a line does form, let the cleaning beads swirl around with a little water.

Leave the decanter upside down to drain and let it dry completely before you put it away, otherwise you end up with a musty smell. This shape does not belong in the dishwasher.

To compare with other models, you will find them together under decanters; for water and juice on the table, look at the plain carafes. The rest of the brand is under Zwiesel Glas, and the glass the decanted wine ends up in is with the red wine glasses. A carafe is also the handiest vessel for sangria and for most of the large-format serving recipes in the cocktail overview.