Home › Home & Kitchen › Kitchen & Dining › Dining & Entertaining › Glassware & Drinkware › Decanters & Carafes How to Clean a Decanter Published: July 9, 2026 · Updated: July 9, 2026
Fill the decanter part-way with warm water and a gentle abrasive — uncooked rice, baking soda, or cleaning beads — then swirl it hard so the grit scrubs the narrow inside a brush can't reach. For wine stains add white vinegar or a denture tablet, rinse thoroughly, and air-dry it upside down on a stand so no spots or smell are left.
Recommended Swirl warm water with rice or baking soda to scrub inside, vinegar for stains, then air-dry upside down — A decanter's problem is its shape: a wide belly and a narrow neck you can't fit a brush or your hand into, so cleaning means using a swirled abrasive to do the scrubbing for you. Put a handful of uncooked rice, a spoon of baking soda, or purpose-made stainless cleaning beads in with warm water, cover the top, and swirl and rotate firmly for a minute so the grit rubs every inside wall, then tip it out. For a dried red-wine ring or cloudiness, fill with warm water plus white vinegar (or drop in a denture-cleaning tablet), leave it 15–30 minutes, and swirl again. Avoid dish soap, which leaves a film that dulls the next wine's aroma, and skip stiff bottle brushes on thin crystal, which scratch. Rinse several times with clean water, then dry it fully mouth-down over a decanter stand or on a rolled towel so no water spots or musty smell form — trapped moisture is what makes a decanter smell. Clean it soon after use, before the wine dries on.
