Wine decanter is a 'Touch' of color and style

Newton Vineyard

"The Touch" decanter is slightly flattened to reveal more of the wine's surface as it is poured.

For the second year in row, Newton Vineyard has sponsored an artist to create a wine-related item that reflects the winery's eco-chic sensibility.

Last year, British artist Claire Danthois created a limited edition of five wine-tasting installations of reclaimed oak. One is on display in the St. Helena tasting room on Spring Mountain.

This year the vineyard, known for its unfiltered wines, wanted the collaboration to result in something a bit more portable. The artist selected turned out to be John Pomp, a Philadelphia glassblower whose work is sold at stores like Barneys New York and Neiman Marcus. He decided a decanter would complement the commission.

"I could have done anything wine-related but if you're doing wine and you're doing glass, I thought, 'You've got to do a decanter,' " he says.

The vineyard brought him to Napa for a week. "It was nice to learn about the wine. I could understand the essence and spirit of how they make their wine," he says. Newton's philosophy - the winemaker guides nature to do its best work - meshed with his own. "We're a great fit. We have parallel sensibilities."

The result is "The Touch," a mouth-blown piece of 30 percent recycled glass that is slightly flattened to reveal more of the wine's surface as it is poured. As the wine passes through narrower areas of the decanter, it appears to change color as it flows in an almost waterfall-like rush, a process that helps aerate it on the way to the glass.

The name refers to a dimple Pomp places in each decanter when the glass is molten. "I'm as exacting as I can be with my hands and my eyes," he says, "but they're not all exactly on center, never exactly alike."