If anyone has one of these, can you answer:
Where is it made?
Is it dishwasher safe?
I doubt I would put it in the dishwasher due to its size anyway, but I’d like to know. The product website has remarkably little useful information.
I actually run a wine store on the daily, and we sell quite a lot of True Fabrication’s… er… well… fabrications…
Now, it’s true that they make a few quality products, but from my understanding of it, they actually are more of a distributor of goods from China moreso than a “fabricator” of them. However, I have had some issues with a few of their other decanters for several reasons I list below:
- Average craftsmanship.
Uncertain as to whether these are hand-blown or not, the decanters we have at my store are the “duck decanters” and they seem to have a number of imperfections on nearly all of them. Most notable, there are small (sometimes very very tiny, sometimes dot-of-an-“i” tiny) but definitely noticeable chips in the interior & exterior rim of the pouring spout. Some also have a somewhat deformed or odly shappen pouring spout, though I doubt one would have similar problems with this model.
They also are somewhat uneven in the width of the glass around the sides. Unlike a nice wine glass, looking through a decanter will cause noticeable distortion of whatever is behind it as it rotates. Perhaps not altogether too terrible, but noticeable to the observant onlooker.
- Perhaps more importantly, packing is often lack-luster. 2/5 of the duck decanters I mentioned earlier arrived this week with broken spouts from insufficient packing materials. The spouts of all but one unit had actually pierced the side of the boxes they were shipped in, two breaking in the process.
Other items by true come in variable qualities. Some look very good to us online, for us only to have them arrive looking much less desirable in person to sit on the shelves for months. Others look as good or better than their online showcase counterparts, so it’s a mixed bag.
Perhaps most notably on the good side of the company is their customer service, as they often refund goods that arrive damaged or otherwise assuage our woes, keeping us fairly happy customers. However, not having that relationship with the company could be quite detrimental on the average Woot purchaser.
All that being said, I genuinely feel these decanters to be somewhat of a gamble for all you folks out there. Most items I sell by true I actually open the packages to ensure I’m not going to sell something people will return. We DO have a substantial number of defects, so of course, YMMV.
For all of you that do plan to buy, good luck, and with it, may you have a fantastic looking decanter that lasts for years… Certainly there are many of our customers who are thoroughly satisfied with their products.
+1. Country of origin? Previous decanters on woot have been made in Poland. I am holding out hope it’s not made where I think it was.
No, this will not be dishwasher safe.
You can buy a decanter cleaning brush such as this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Wine-Decanter-Cleaner-Brush-long/dp/B002T4F8AW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1322807497&sr=8-1
Or Riedel cleaning beads like these, for swirling around in the decanter along with warm water and a mild detergent:
http://www.amazon.com/Riedel-Bottle-Cleaner-1-75-Inch-Container/dp/B000ESWSS0/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1322807497&sr=8-2
Otherwise, what also works well is just using warm water and mild dish detergent without the beads. Swirl it around vigorously (without letting it fly out of your hands and smashing and/or killing someone) and making absolutely sure that you’ve gotten all of the detergent out at the end. Leftover detergent is very bad for the next wine you pour in. Also, make sure to wash right after use.
No matter which method you use for cleaning, dry the decanter upside down in a decanter-drying rack thingamabob, like this one:
http://www.amazon.com/Oenophilia-Wine-Decanter-Drying-Stand/dp/B001FTSJQM/ref=sr_1_1?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1322807682&sr=1-1
Another thing to note… decanters can be great for a lot of young red wines, but they’re not good for all red wines, even young-ish red ones. And a good idea is to taste a little of the wine out of the bottle before you decant, so you can start to get an idea of when it’s better to decant and when not.
I definitely would not put it in the dishwasher, since, like I said, the interior and exterior parts of the rim of their decanters tend to chip.
Very, very likely (if not certainly) made in China, like the vast majority (if not all) of True’s products.
In for 3. Perfect for gifts for people you don’t know that well.
I typically do not recommend decanting if not planning to drink an entire bottle. The more air exposure the wine gets, the faster it will go bad. That being said, should you have some method of “corking” your decanter, you may be able to get away with drinking the rest the night/day after opening, but typically it’s not a grand idea.
You definitely don’t want to pour it back into the bottle not only for the obvious mess it might make, but also for the fact that you’ll be further disturbing and thus oxidizing the wine, shortening its lifespan even further.
For a better “put the cork back in and drink it this weekend” solution, use a bottle-top (or even better a standalone/wine-glass-top) aerator as this will prevent unnecessary oxidation while still opening up the wine for your greater enjoyment (in most cases). These solutions also let you try aerated and unaerated wines side-by-side without only pouring half a bottle in the decanter.
Alternatively to all of that however, you could just pour only half the bottle (or whatever you plan to drink) in the decanter… Though that still creates the problem of wanting that decanted wine right now when it’s all gone… One possible solution to that however: you might not care so much after that 2nd glass 
What’s the capacity of these in real money? 50 Fluid ounces is no good to me when my bottles are 750ml each! Looks as if “half-full” provides the best surface area aeration in decanter anyway.
LOL very good. now why have I never in my life thought of that one. Now I’ll have to credit you when I steal it!
Here we go again. Why can’t beverage purveyors (and decanters) decide on a unit of measurement. Is 50 ounces a standard bottle? A jeroboam? A Fifth? A quart? Maybe a Litre? How many drams is that? I’m so confused.
I agree. The deep punt really has no functional value for aerating the wine. Just an unnecessary part of the design.
Do these work better for Red or White wine?
A standard bottle is slightly more than 25oz. A magnum is twice the size of a standard bottle. Therefore, this will hold a magnum…if you drink a little out of the bottle first
I don’t put more than a standard bottle in my decanter anyways. The less wine in the decanter, the higher your surface to volume ratio.
Except perhaps, if we’re being generous, to help in the aeration if you swirl the decanter a bit, as a rock on the seashore might, should you need to aerate your sea water 
Drams - ha! Just remember: One fluid ounce is about 30 ml. Ajrod27 is correct - a standard bottle is 750 ml which is about 25 ounces.
Yeah, that was bothering me too. With the wine pushed up the narrowing body of the decanter (by the helpful punt), it seems the surface area exposed to the air may actually be reduced.
Other than the the questionable marketing hyperbole, it looks like a really nice deal.
50 fl Oz is 1478ml so 1 standard bottle of wine would give you the 1/2 full optimum aeration.
Can you explain why it’s not dishwasher safe? I understand that you may not want to put in in the dishwasher because it might break, but it’s made of glass, how can it not be dishwasher safe?
If I’m not mistaken, the punt (assuming the height is sufficient) should serve to disperse and aerate the wine as it is poured into the decanter (again, assuming the wine is poured directly on top the punt). From decanters I’ve seen in the past, the punt should serve to have a fountain effect aerating the wine better as it is poured in, instead of just being poured in one solid stream (such as a sink). IMHO, that is.
In for one…and this will be my first! I’m fairly new to the wine scene but am learning a ton just from wine.woot!