The Rare Wine Co. - Decanters


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		Karen MacNeil recommends our reproduction decanters on eRobertParker.com. > read article

From an aesthetic point of view, the wine decanters made in England and Ireland between 1760 and 1810 are arguably the finest ever made. Domestic design, generally, had reached its apex, inspired by Adam, Palladio and Chippendale. Affluent dining tables were particularly blessed, adorned with crystal and silver serving pieces of unprecedented craftsmanship and beauty.

The finest decanters of this period — the reign of England’s George III — have a style and elegance that are unique in modern history. Gracefully shaped with subtle detail, they were hand-blown, hand-engraved and cut by hand — each decanter unique. This was before the Industrial Revolution of the early 1800's, when the power of machines replaced the delicate, skilled touch of the human hand. And though fine Georgian decanters have become painfully rare, the surviving examples have given pleasure to six generations of wine lovers.

A decade ago, we embarked on a project to replicate the best of these decanters. We asked John Jenkins & Sons, a 108-yearold British glass company, if their craftsmen could replicate one of the prizes in our own collection: a circa-1770 magnum featured in Robin Butler’s landmark book, Wine Antiques. Our ultimate goal was to produce classic, now-rare designs in both bottle and magnum size. Each decanter would be produced entirely by hand, using the same methods that produced the originals two hundred years ago. Each decanter would be made in a limited series, signed and numbered on the base.

As our first project, we selected a rare magnum taper (c. 1770), and began working drawings in the spring of 2000.

Close to two decades ago, we acquired a very fine pair of magnum tapers made about 1770 in England. Though Georgian decanters were often made in sets of two, four or even more, it is rare for more than one to have survived two centuries of use. It is even rarer for a pair of magnums to have survived.

This pair is especially remarkable for its beautiful “fishscale” cutting in the neck and the unusual band of engraving on its side. The pair also stands out for its beautiful cut star stoppers. It was only after a few years of ownership that we learned that one of the pair had been used to illustrate the best in Georgian decanters in Robin Butler’s classic book, Wine Antiques.

Our Offer. We have produced 140 of these magnum decanters; each signed, dated and numbered on the base. Each was hand-blown, and hand-cut and hand-engraved using stone wheels. The decanters are available in either singles or pairs, with a two-decanter limit per customer.

Magnum Taper decanter 450.00
Reproduction c. 1770 English

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Attention California residents. Proposition 65 WARNING:
Consuming foods or beverages that have been kept or served in leaded crystal products will expose you to lead, a chemical known to the State of California to cause birth defects or other reproductive harm.

Our replica magnum decanters are almost gone now. But, a few years ago we asked Jenkins to recreate a second decanter from our collection: an exquisite bottle-size decanter in the finely engraved taper style of the 1770s. Because of this decanter’s delicacy, the prototype took even longer — a full six years — but it was worth the wait. Our Georgian taper decanter captures the lightness and grace of the classic style that dominated decanter design in the 1770s.

Each of these decanters was made entirely by hand — hand-blown, cut and engraved — and is signed and numbered on the base.

The Taper decanter 275.00

Stands 12” high and holds one bottle or 750ml
of wine. Reproduction c. 1770 English