YETI Rambler® "Wine Tumbler" Wine Tumbler with Magslider™ Lid 1 piece

Your wine stays cool until the sun goes down

What is the Rambler Wine Tumbler? YETI's stemless wine tumbler in 18/8 stainless steel, 296 millilitres, with a push-on Magslider lid. It keeps your wine cool all evening and leaves no ring on the boot sill. It isn't leakproof, and it won't fit the cup holder in the car either.

The YETI Rambler Wine Tumbler is YETI's wine tumbler for the hour after driving, when the bonnet has long gone cold and the tailgate is open. 296 millilitres, no stem, no glass on gravel. You pour, set it on the boot sill and drink the last sip as cool as the first, even though the sun took the rest of the evening to set.

• Two glasses in one hand. 296 millilitres is about two standard 150 ml glasses of wine. One bottle gives two rounds for two people without anyone having to get up in between. Leave two fingers of room below the rim and nothing sloshes over when you move it.
• Cold stays cold until the car park empties. A wine writer at KnowWines measured it at an ambient 25 degrees: in a thin-walled glass the Pinot Noir had climbed to 15.5 degrees after 45 minutes; in the Wine Tumbler it took two hours. In high summer, that's the difference between the first quarter of an hour and the whole evening.
• Camp chair holder yes, car holder no. At 9.2 centimetres across, it's nearly two too wide for the cup holder in most cars. It fits the loop on a camping chair, and at 300 grams empty it stands steadier on a wobbly folding table than any glass.

Detailing1's tip from the shop: The most common mistake happens when you pack up. The slider on the lid keeps splashes in but doesn't seal, and YETI says so itself on its own product page. Lay a half-full tumbler down in the cool bag and you'll find the rest of the wine in the bag later. Upright on the table, upright in your hand, upright in the crate. Before the drive home, drink up or tip it out.

The second mistake doesn't cost you wine, it costs you taste. Under the slider there's a silicone seal in a narrow groove, and that's exactly where red wine settles in. The dishwasher jet doesn't reach it. Every few weeks, pull off the slider, take the seal out of the groove and wipe it clean. One minute's effort, and your next white won't taste of the last red.

You pour at the open tailgate not at the dining table

The Rambler Wine Tumbler belongs to the hour after driving. Bottle out of the cool box, pour to two fingers below the rim, slider shut, tumbler on the boot sill.

Half eight in the evening, the metal is cold, most people have gone. A blanket over the boot sill, two folding chairs beside it, someone's still got a bottle. You don't pour into glass, because glass on gravel works exactly once. And half an hour later the wine is still as cool as when you poured it. The same scene plays out in the paddock in the evening, at the campsite next to the weekend car and on the empty car park after a meet.

The tumbler stands on painted metal, on a blanket or on a folding table and leaves nothing behind. A chilled wine glass fogs up in two minutes at 28 degrees, and whatever runs down it collects under the foot. On the boot sill it leaves a ring; on a leather seat a dark stain that takes hours to go. The Rambler stays dry on the outside, so you can put it down where you'd otherwise have laid a towel.

That's exactly why this product is in our range. It's the same mindset that makes you fold your drying towel twice and stops you standing the canister on the bumper. You don't put anything down that leaves a mark afterwards. For once, the mark wouldn't come from a bottle but from the cup itself.

In winter, the benefit simply flips. The same tester filled it with mulled wine: in a normal mug it was lukewarm after 20 minutes; in the YETI it stayed warm enough to drink for 45 minutes. You can fill it up to 85 degrees. If the whole bottle needs to stay cold, the wine chiller for the whole bottle stands next to it for top-ups. Pour it in warm, though, and the tumbler won't make it cold.

For the good Barolo this is the wrong cup

Stainless steel gives you the temperature and takes away the nose. If you're opening a bottle you'll want to talk about afterwards, pour it into a glass, not in here.

The tester at KnowWines says so openly: the fruit aromas and oak notes of the Pinot Noir came through much more clearly in the wine glass than in the tumbler. Add the straight inner wall, which barely lets you swirl, and the missing stem. For the twelve-euro wine you drink cold, that doesn't matter. For the bottle from the top shelf, it does.

Then there are three things that would otherwise catch you out after buying. The lid keeps splashes in and doesn't seal; carried lying down, that goes wrong. The tumbler fits the holder on a camping chair but not the cup holder in the car. And it doesn't belong in the freezer, let alone the microwave.

There's one place where a wrong purchase lurks that's easy to miss online. YETI now makes two 296 ml wine tumblers: this one in bare or colour-coated stainless steel, and a second version with a ceramic layer inside, designed for acidic drinks and stain resistance. If you're after the ceramic version, you're on the wrong page. If you're not, you save money.

So if you mean the evening by the car, the wine tumbler is right. If you're heading to a meet at six in the morning and need coffee, take the insulated tumbler with Magslider lid; it fits the holder and your hand on the wheel. And the obvious point that still belongs here: if you're driving afterwards, fill it with water.

After three summers in the boot it looks brand new

The reason for a YETI is never the first evening, it's the thirtieth. After three summers between the toolbox and the jack, the tumbler looks like you bought it last week.

Long-term reports over years all read much the same: scratches, yes; small dents, yes; fading performance, as a rule, no. YETI gives five years against defects in materials and workmanship, for the original buyer. The coloured versions have a powder coat that the manufacturer promises won't chip or crack. What it doesn't promise: that the colour will look exactly the same after three summers on the parcel shelf. Fading and scratches are explicitly not covered.

So who's it for? Anyone who sits next to a parked car in the evening more than three times a year and brings kit they don't strictly need: the blanket in the boot, the folding table, the cloth that's only for glass. Not for someone drinking wine at the dining table at home. There, any six-euro glass wins.

In this scene, kit is part of the deal. The blanket in the boot, the folding table, the glass-only cloth, the tumbler. None of it is essential, and yet sooner or later everyone who spends evenings next to their car has it. Bringing a YETI says something about your relationship with things that last.

For the colour, it comes down to where the tumbler stands. There are seven colourways in the range, from Black and Navy through Frosted Sage and Tahini to Rescue Red, White and Tropical Pink. The light ones show every fingerprint when your hands come straight from the car. The dark ones show limescale streaks if your water is hard. Two tumblers in two colours also settle the question of whose is whose in the evening.

Tumbler and lid can go in the dishwasher, but the magnet has to come off first. Which brings us to the most expensive mistake with this tumbler, and it isn't the dent from the gravel. It's the magnetic slider that disappears in the cutlery basket, without which the whole lid is useless.

And now it gets subtle. This tumbler takes the Magslider in Small, while the ten-ounce lowball of the same size takes Medium. Make a note of that now, and months later the replacement lid lands in your basket in the right size, not the wrong one. The rest of the series is in the category with all insulated tumblers and cool boxes.

Caring for the YETI Rambler Wine Tumbler

Pour, take it along, strip it down every few weeks

Before pouring, give it a quick rinse with cold water and leave two fingers of room below the rim. Pour it cold and it stays cold; pour it warm and it won't turn cold. You can fill it up to 85 degrees, which is plenty for mulled wine.

Always carry it upright. The magnetic slider keeps splashes in but doesn't seal; lying down in the cool bag, whatever's left ends up in the bag. Before the drive home, drink up or tip it out.

Tumbler and lid can go in the dishwasher, lid in the top rack. Pull the magnet off first, or it'll disappear between the cutlery basket and the filter. Every few weeks, also take the silicone seal out of the groove in the lid, wipe it, dry it and put it back. Red wine settles in there and the dishwasher jet doesn't reach it.

Notes: Not in the freezer, never in the microwave. The tumbler fits the holder on a camping chair, not the cup holder in the car. The replacement lid that fits is the Magslider in Small, not Medium. Store it dry and open; don't forget it in the boot with the lid on.