Oxidation from a decanter?
So in movies/shows set in/from yesteryear it seems that everyone has a decanter of whiskey out, and people go fix themselves a drink. I've always been curious - what sort of risk of oxidation would there be from that? I've always figured that a closed bottle would be good enough for a long, long time but that's a much more air accessible container ... would it still be a long while (months+) before it was an issue?
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FWIW, there are a great many decanters which are lead-free, *mostly* (but not exclusively) made for wines, and most do not have closures.
The only time I use decanters is for either young reds which need time to breathe, or wines which have thrown substantial sediment, and none of my (non-leaded) decanters have closures. Thus, as others have said, it's for wines meant to be consumed that night.
I still have a number of lead-crystal decanters mean for spirits. I just don't use any of them.
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A good well made decanter is at least as air tight as a bottle.
If you are using it for spirits even lead crystal is probably okay. Though I would not want to keep my whole liquor cabinet in lead crystal.
Red wine, (little reason to decant white wine) which is somewhat acidic is a bit more problematic and will cause more of the lead to leach out. If you decant wine into lead crystal you should drink it that night, and not do it that often.
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I'd be more concerned about the lead that is in a lot of crystal decanters. A little evaporation I can live with, but lead poisoning is more serious.
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re: JMF
Check this article out: Washington Post
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/...
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