Last weeks 'Wine' post touched upon 10 Unique Wine Facts very few people knew! This week, taking a slightly different approach, we look at 6 carafes/decanters that... lets just say wouldn't be anywhere near my wine collection.
#1 - The Rainman Decanter
Name: The Rainman Decanter
Website: Desk Store
Price: $84 USD
The Rainman Decanter was designed by Sundén Ringnér in Sweden. With eight small holes in its side, I would describe this as being somewhere in-between a glass watering can and a shabby youth hostel shower head. Not only is it hard to locate which side you pour out of, but you can expect half the bottle to spill over your table each time you use it. Get the paper towel ready.
#2 - Cuore
Name: Cuore (heart in Italian)
Website: N/A
Price: Upon Request
Looking like a prop fresh out of one of the Twilight movies, the Cuore was originally created by students during Milan's 'Design Week'. The design firm, Paolo C then decided to take this thing to the next level and will create them on an as per requested basis. The following explanation was given to explain the Cuore's design:
“A wine decanter is built together with a water carafe. A half half coloured mix of red and white. Red wine stands for low pressure, water stands for high pressure. The organic heart shape has been developed into two different, stand-alone objects according to the natural division of ventricles.”
I don't know about you, but the last thing I want to think about when sipping on my Zinfandel are ventricles. We'll leave this one for Bella and Edward.
#3 -The Willy Wine Decanter
Name: The Willy Wine Decanter
Website: MyHenParty.Com
Price: $49.95 USD
Description: "Liven up any party with this novelty glass penis-shaped wine decanter. Guaranteed to keep the freshness of the wine so you will experience the Willy-perfect taste every time. Comes in a gorgeus presentation box. Perfect to give as a naughty gift!"
"Hey hunny....our friends will be round soon, get out the Willy Wine Decanter so we can let the Cab sit for a while!"
Umm... yeh, no thanks.
#4 - Carafe No5
Name: Carafe No5
Website: Strange Decanters
Price: $3380
This....thing, that I can't seriously name a carafe stands somewhere between a collection of tree roots or an infection that spread from Rudolph's nose to his antlers. Originally, only 8 of these things were created (thank god), but over time unfortunately more have cropped up. I have three issues with this thing. Firstly, there is no room for aeration here, it takes the art out of wine and replaces with just... well, art. Secondly, pouring from this thing must be an absolute nightmare - its huge! Lastly, its just 100% totally impractical. You'd never find this in the house of someone who truly appreciates wine, unless its a trophy from a recent hunting trip in the North Pole, that is.
#5 - Wine Carafe With Glass
Name: Wine Carafe With Glass (literally, this is its name)
Website: Made in Design
Price: $125-165 USD
This quirky carafe was created by Claudio Colucci as a remake of his original design (which looked exactly the same so I don't really understand how its a remake) in 2001. I feel its impracticality can be summed up in the following product description taken from someone else's blog:
"Now you can really freak out your guests by whipping out this Wine Carafe with Glass. Wait until they've had quite a few drinks and then reveal this work of art by Claudio Colucci, and we'd suggest carefully filling the glass with one drink and the rest of the container with its mixer, shaking them up just before serving. Or fill it up with vino and just drink the whole thing yourself, later truthfully saying you had just one glass of wine."
I think all of the above are terrible ideas. Apart from drinking a whole bottle to forget the $165 you just poured down the sink.
#6 - The Big Heart Wine Decanter
Name: The Big Heart Wine Decanter
Website: Houzz
Price $4040 USD
Watch out, the Twilight crew are back again. I honestly don't understand the fascination or fad surrounding bodily organs and wine carafe's these days. While this guy is a little more acceptable functionally and aesthetically (because you might not automatically associate it as being the valves of a heart) its price is something else altogether.
The best thing about this? The genius who decided it was a smart idea to take a picture of a $4000 carafe while pouring wine into a $0.99 Ikea wine glass. I think that says enough.
Well, thats this weeks "Wine" post. If you like your wine i'd be really interested to see if you agree or disagree with the above! If your learning, please note that these are not cool (or at least in my opinion, anyway).
Until next time!