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The Riedel Ultra decanter is a wide, low, mouth-blown crystal bowl that costs about as much as a case of decent wine. When we checked the Australian listing it was a little over three hundred and fifty dollars, with one left in stock. That is a lot of money for a container.
So the review has to answer a blunt question. Does the shape do something a cheaper decanter cannot, and is that something worth the difference? One of those answers is yes.
Table of Contents
What It Is
Riedel lists it as article number 2400/14, from the handmade decanter range. It is crystal glass, mouth-blown by hand in Riedel European workshops, and sized to hold a standard 750 millilitre bottle. Riedel is upfront that small variations, bubbles and imperfections come with the mouth-blown process, so no two are quite the same.
The numbers that matter are the proportions. Riedel gives the exterior height as 8.858 inches, a shade over 22 centimetres, and the widest diameter as 8.071 inches, a little over 20 centimetres. It is almost as wide as it is tall. That is the entire design argument in two measurements.
Why the Shape Matters
Decanting works through two processes running at different speeds. Evaporation is immediate: light sulfur compounds, the ones that make a young red smell closed or faintly of struck matches, leave as soon as the wine is exposed to air. Oxidation is slow, taking hours or days, and that is the one that softens tannin and rounds out the texture.
Both depend on surface area. A tall, narrow carafe presents a small circle of wine to the air. Pour the same bottle into something 20 centimetres wide and the wine spreads into a shallow pool with far more of it touching air at once. Everything happens faster, and more of it happens.
There is a measurable side effect too. A 2016 study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry found that wine left in an open glass with moving air lost around one percent alcohol by volume in two hours, and up to 3.2 percent over six. The study also found evaporation sped up in wider vessels. Less alcohol reads as less heat on the finish, which is part of why a long decant makes a big red feel smoother.
This is the honest difference between a decanter and a gadget. Our aerator review explains why a pour-through device gives the wine about one second of contact, which is enough to blow off a bad smell and nowhere near enough to change a tannic wine. The Ultra gives it an hour across a wide surface. Only one of those two things is actually decanting.
How We Tested It
One bottle of young Margaret River Cabernet, split between the Ultra and a plain tall carafe, tasted at the pour, at thirty minutes and at ninety minutes. Then the practical side: filling it, pouring from it, washing it, and finding somewhere to keep it.
What We Liked
- It works faster than a narrow decanter. At thirty minutes the wine in the Ultra was noticeably more open than the same wine in the carafe. By ninety minutes the carafe had caught up, so what you are buying is speed.
- It pours cleanly. The lip is well shaped and does not dribble, which is not a given at any price.
- It looks the part on a table. A wide crystal bowl of red wine is genuinely lovely, and the wine is the decoration rather than the glass.
- It is honest about being handmade. Riedel says outright that bubbles and small variations are part of the process. Ours had a faint ripple in the base and we liked it more for that.
What We Did Not
- The price. A little over three hundred and fifty dollars buys a great deal of wine, and a twenty dollar carafe gets you most of the way there in ninety minutes.
- Handwash only, and awkward. Riedel specifies handwashing. A bowl 20 centimetres across does not fit under many kitchen taps at an angle that lets you rinse the inside properly.
- Drying is a project. The wide base traps water. You will want a drying stand, and our guide to drying a decanter without water spots exists precisely because of shapes like this one.
- Storage. It is too wide for a standard cupboard shelf with anything beside it. Plan where it lives before you buy it.
Who It Is For
Buy it if you open serious reds often, you want them ready in half an hour rather than an hour and a half, and you will enjoy looking at it. It is also an excellent wedding or milestone gift, because it is the sort of object people love receiving and would not buy for themselves.
Skip it if you decant twice a year, if your kitchen has no room for it, or if what you actually want is any decanter at all rather than this one. The decanter roundup has good options at a tenth of the price that do the same job with more patience.
What to Pour In It
Voyager Estate Margaret River Organic Cabernet 2023
A decanter this expensive deserves a wine that changes in it, and a young Margaret River Cabernet is exactly that. Pour a small glass straight away, then another after thirty minutes, and you will taste the thing you paid for. If you drink it all in the first ten minutes you have wasted both the wine and the crystal.
- Young Cabernet with real structure, so decanting shows
- Certified organic fruit from Margaret River
- Firm tannin that softens with an hour of air
- A bottle that justifies getting the good glassware out
- Still a baby, and it will be better again in five years
The Verdict
The Ultra is a very good decanter that does what its shape promises. The wide base opens a young red faster than a conventional carafe, the crystal is beautiful, and Riedel is straight with you about the handmade quirks and the handwashing.
It is also two things at once, and the price only makes sense if you want both. As pure function, a cheap carafe and an extra hour gets you to the same glass of wine. As an object you will use for twenty years and enjoy every time, it earns its keep. Decide which one you are buying before you spend the money.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is the Riedel Ultra decanter worth it?
Worth it if you decant often and want the wine open in about half an hour, or if you are buying a gift meant to last. If you only want the function, a plain carafe and ninety minutes gets you to a very similar glass for a fraction of the money.
How much wine does the Riedel Ultra hold?
Riedel designs it around a standard 750 millilitre bottle, so one bottle fills it as intended. Pouring less than a full bottle in leaves a very shallow pool, which is fine but looks odd.
Can you put a Riedel decanter in the dishwasher?
Riedel specifies handwash only for this one. Rinse it with warm water straight after use, avoid detergent, and stand it upside down to drain so water does not pool in the wide base.
How long should wine sit in the Ultra decanter?
Thirty to sixty minutes suits most young reds. The wide base works faster than a narrow decanter, so the usual advice to leave it for two hours can be cut down. Taste it as you go.
Why does my Riedel decanter have small bubbles in the glass?
Because it is mouth-blown by hand. Riedel states that small variations, bubbles and imperfections are part of the handmade process, so they are a mark of how it was made rather than a fault.
Is a decanter better than a wine aerator?
For softening a young, firm red, yes, because that needs hours of air and an aerator gives it about a second. An aerator is better at one narrow job, which is clearing a closed or slightly eggy smell the moment you open the bottle.
This post contains affiliate links. If you buy through them we earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It keeps the wine flowing and the reviews honest.
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