decanter

Handmade and mouth-blown in Poland, this Blown Glass Decanter from Sur La Table is a great everyday sort of decanter for your kitchen. It has a very art-deco look to it, with a straight, cylindrical carafe topped with an oversized spherical stopper. Decanter or not, it would look good filled with orange juice or even water at the breakfast table, as well as with wine at dinner. It holds 28-ounces. Price: $40.

William Yeoward is well known for his exquisite crystal work and the design of this Pearl Decanter is a lovely illustration of that fact. The perfectly etched details were inspired by 18th and 19th century motifs and were hand-cut into the crystal. This decanter is magnum-sized, so it holds up to 54-ounces and is probably a better choice for entertaining a large crowd than for serving at a dinner for two. There is a matching bottle sized (27-oz) decanter available that would be better suited to the latter purposed. Price, magnum: $730.

Decanters that come with matching stands are almost always beautiful pieces that make good stand-ins for traditional, but impractical, centerpieces at the dinner table. A decanter like this one, the Amphora Decanter, is both beautiful and useful. It is made in Italy of mouth-blown crystal and is based on a very old design that, for centuries, was believed to be one of the best for oxidation. It can also be used to serve other liqueurs, should you choose to use it to serve brandy or some other warming drink over the holidays, making use of the visual effect of the decanter, if not its oxidation abilities. Price: $130.

If asked to name popular card games, gin rummy would probably not make the top five. That said, the game does carry a touch of old fashioned sophistication that works well with Kate Spade's Gin Rummy Drink Set. She has a whiskey decanter ($125), a set of highballs ($100 for 4) and a set of cordial glasses ($50 for 4), all made of full lead crystal that has been etched with the shapes of card suits. The decanter, which is topped with a rectangular crystal stopper, stands 11" high and holds 32-oz.

When dining at a high-end restaurant, you expect to receive a presentation of the wine from the sommelier. It adds something to the dining experience and is almost like a small show, enjoyable even if it is not intended as entertainment. You would not expect a decanter to be able to perform such a show on its own, but clearly that is exactly what the designers of the Rojaus Grapevine Decanter intended to do. When the wine is poured into it, it flows fountain-like over a glass bubble, which allows the wine to open up and breathe. The wine can then be dispensed to individual guests as they feel like refilling their glasses. If you chill the bubble by keeping it in the freezer for several hours before used, your wines will be slightly chilled as you serve them. Price: $248.

Rather than using a vase full of flowers to decorate your table, you can turn your wine service into your centerpiece with the Ercuis Wine Decanting Machine. The beautiful gadget looks like a relic from a different area, one which would have been proudly displayed to all guests. It is made of silver-plated steel with a black wooden base. Price: $270.

If you're interested in glassware that will really make a statement, the Black Cut Crystal Glassware collection from Williams-Sonoma Home might be the perfect thing. To make the pattern, black crystal is layered over clear crystal, then gently cut away to create the unique, oval-banded pattern. It makes a stunning presentation of liquors, though red wines and red cocktails look particularly elegant against the black. Each piece in the set is sold separately, but the collection includes white and red wineglasses, champagne flutes, martini glasses, aperitif glasses, highballs and double old-fashioneds. Prices: $30-$38 for glasses; $150 for decanter, ice bucket.

I admit that I had to look carefully at this decanter before I figured out how it was able to balance so well with its ring design. Actually, first I had to stop staring, because it is a gorgeous piece of work by Christofle. The B.Y. Decanter holds 25.5-ounces and is made of elegantly shaped glass that is set in a silver-plated ring. The ring balances on a tabletop stand, giving the sense that the decanter could move itself - perhaps to refill your glass - at any time. Price: $590.

The glass "O" Sake Set by Riedel offers a beautiful way to introduce sake into your home. Riedel actually conducted tastings with sake experts from Japan when designing these, keeping in mind that they wanted to glasses to be varietal, intended to be ideal glassware for serving sake. This means that all the flavors and aromatic notes of the sake will be brought out to their fullest when decanted into the small carafe and served in these glasses. Price: $38.