Cabernet Wine Carafe 1.7 L vs Water Carafe 1.2 L: Which to Choose

Holmegaard's Cabernet series has two carafes that look like siblings but do quite different jobs: a squat 1.7 L wine carafe and a tall 1.2 L water carafe. This guide compares them on volume, shape, weight and use, so you can decide whether your table needs one, the other, or both.

Two carafes, one Cabernet logic

Peter Svarrer designed Cabernet for Holmegaard as a full table family rather than a single glass. The range now covers wine glasses, tumblers, glasses for champagne, beer and aquavit, and the two carafes. Holmegaard describes the design brief as a dogma of functionality, modernism and everyday elegance, and you can see it in the carafes: plain clear walls, no decoration, and proportions dictated by what goes inside.

Both are made from fine glass, both are clear, and both go in the dishwasher at a maximum of 55°C on a glass programme. The difference is in the silhouette. The Cabernet Wine Carafe 1,7 l clear is wide and low, with its weight sitting in a broad base. The Cabernet Water carafe 1,2 l clear is slim and upright, closer to a bottle, and comes with a cork stopper. One shape is built to expose liquid to air; the other is built to protect it.

Side by side: the numbers

The two carafes are almost the same height, which is useful to know if you plan to stand them together. What changes is the footprint and the weight of the glass itself.

Two details stand out. The water carafe is the taller of the two by 2 cm, yet it is 6.5 cm narrower, so it takes up far less room on the table. And the wine carafe is heavier by 280 g before you pour anything in. Filled, it holds a little more than two standard 75 cl bottles, which makes it a two-handed piece for some people. Pour from it holding the neck and steadying the body.

The wine carafe: a wide base for breathing

A decanter does two things. It separates wine from any sediment, and it lets air reach the wine so that a closed or tight bottle opens up. The second job depends on surface area: the wider the pool of wine at the bottom, the more of it meets the air at once. That is why the Cabernet wine carafe spreads out to 19 cm. A full bottle settles into a shallow layer rather than a deep column.

Holmegaard positions it for both ends of the cellar: a powerful, muscular vintage that needs time, and a young everyday bottle that benefits from a quick aeration to bring out its aromas. The practical advice from the maker is to avoid stressing the wine. Rather than pouring straight down the middle, tilt the carafe and let the wine run gently down the inside wall. It is a small habit that also cuts down on splashes.

The volume was revised at some point. Earlier versions were listed at 150 cl; the current carafe is stated as 170 cl. If you are matching an older piece, that is the figure to check. The extra capacity is welcome: a single 75 cl bottle sits low in the bowl with plenty of air above it, and two bottles fit for a longer dinner or a blind tasting, which is exactly the kind of evening Holmegaard has in mind for it.

The water carafe: tall, slim and corked

The water carafe solves a different problem. Water does not need to breathe, but sparkling water goes flat quickly in an open jug. The cork stopper keeps the bubbles in through a long meal, and the narrow body exposes less surface to the air in any case. It also keeps dust and insects out if you leave it on a table outdoors.

At 12.5 cm across, it is easy to place between settings on a narrow table, and at 0.4 kg empty it is light enough to pass from hand to hand. The 1.2 L volume fills four Cabernet Tumbler 25 cl clear 6 pcs. with a little to spare, so for a table of four it is one round per fill. For six or eight people, plan on refilling or setting out two.

It is not limited to water. The shape suits juice at breakfast, cordial in summer, or a light white or rosé served straight from the fridge where aeration is not the point. What it is not good for is decanting a red: the narrow body gives the wine almost no surface to open up.

The matching glasses

Each carafe has a natural partner in the range. The Cabernet Red Wine Glass 52 cl clear 6 pcs. stands 22.5 cm tall, so it sits almost level with the wine carafe on the table. Its 52 cl bowl (listed at 35 cl in earlier versions) leaves room to swirl a normal pour, which carries on the work the decanter started.

The tumbler is the water carafe's companion: 25 cl, 10.5 cm tall and 8 cm in diameter. It is now machine blown, replacing an earlier mouth-blown version, which Holmegaard says gives it extra robustness and clarity. That makes it the piece in the family most suited to daily use and frequent dishwasher runs. If you are still deciding on stemware, our comparison of Perfection vs Cabernet covers the wine glasses in more depth.

Which one to choose

• Choose the wine carafe if you drink red wine with dinner more than occasionally, open young bottles that taste closed straight from the cork, or host tastings. Allow a 19 cm circle on the table and somewhere stable to set it down.
• Choose the water carafe if you want something on the table at every meal, drink sparkling water, or have a narrow table where space between plates is tight. It is the more versatile of the two for everyday life.
• Choose both for a full dinner setting. Their heights are within 2 cm of each other, the glass and lines match, and the contrast between the wide wine carafe and the slender water carafe reads as deliberate rather than mismatched.

Care is the same for both: dishwasher safe at up to 55°C on a glass programme. For the wine carafe, a rinse with warm water straight after use stops red wine from leaving a film in the base, which is harder to reach than the inside of a straight-sided jug.

To compare these with other designs for pouring and serving, browse the full Carafes, Jugs & Bar collection.