YETI Rambler® "Wine Chiller" Wine Chiller 1 piece

The bottle is as cold at the viewpoint as when you set off

What is the YETI Rambler Wine Chiller? A stainless steel wine chiller that needs no ice and keeps a pre-chilled bottle cold for a whole evening. It can't make anything cold, it has no lid, and wide champagne bottles don't fit.

The YETI Rambler Wine Chiller is YETI's wine chiller for anyone who takes a cold bottle from home and wants to pull it out of the boot still cold hours later at the destination. No ice, no meltwater, no dripping towel. The drive ends at the viewpoint, the folding table comes out of the tailgate, and the bottle stands where an ice bucket would otherwise have left a puddle.

• No ice, no water, no ring. A 0.75-litre bottle goes in cold and comes out cold hours later, without a single ice cube along for the ride. The chiller stays dry on the outside. No water ring on the boot sill, no soggy label, no wet towel left lying in the boot afterwards. If you look after your car, you know the ring a sweating vessel leaves on a leather bench seat or a wooden edge.
• The bottle pokes out and stands quietly. 23.8 centimetres tall, a standard bottle sticks out a good way at the top. You grab it by the neck and never reach into the chiller. At the bottom there's a silicone insert, so glass never meets metal: no clinking when the tailgate shuts, no clack when you top up. The insert comes out with two fingers.
• Made for the boot, not the display cabinet. 18/8 stainless steel, the coloured versions also powder-coated, five-year warranty on the Rambler line (maker's claim). After three seasons between the jack and the tool bag it has a few marks and the colour is still where it was on day one. Body and silicone insert are dishwasher safe on top of that.

Detailing1's tip from the shop: The mistake happens before you set off, not at the table. The bottle comes cold out of the fridge, the chiller room-warm out of the cupboard. A warm stainless steel body pulls cold out of the bottle for the first half hour. Put the chiller in the fridge for 30 minutes too, or sit it between the ice packs in the cooler for 10. Not in the freezer. And at the destination, into the shade of the tailgate, not the sun.

The Wine Chiller comes along and the ice bucket stays at home

On a drive out, the YETI Rambler Wine Chiller replaces the ice bucket. Chill the bottle, bring the chiller cold, and at the destination both are ready on the folding table.

If you've ever lugged a champagne bucket along, you know the drill: buy ice, fill it, pour off the water, and on the way home the rest sloshes over the boot sill. At the end of the country road there's a lukewarm bottle standing in a puddle. The Wine Chiller cuts that down to one move, and the same thinking is built into the rest of YETI's insulated tumblers and coolers.

At the meet, it stays where you put it. The non-slip ring on the base holds it on painted metal, on wood and on the slightly sloping folding table every car park has somewhere. On the tailgate of an estate it sits more securely than any glass carafe, and if it does tip over, it's stainless steel falling over, not glass. One more dent, one less shard.

The ritual starts the evening before. Bottle in the fridge, chiller next to it, and both are ready in the morning. If you head off at six on a Sunday, you pack both in the same crate as the blanket and the folding table and don't give them another thought all day. That's the real difference from an ice bucket: the Wine Chiller needs no prep at the destination, just a level surface.

In the paddock the scene is different and the routine the same. The last run is done, the pit lane is emptying, someone swings open the back of the van. The chiller has been in the shade under the workbench since the morning, and the bottle inside is still as cold as it was at first practice.

For the drive itself: bring it empty. The chiller rides in the footwell or the crate, the bottle travels in the cool bag, and the two come together at the destination. It's open at the top. Take a corner with it full and the wine ends up on the floor mat.

It can't make anything cold and it has no lid

The Wine Chiller doesn't chill, it preserves. It has no lid, none of the Rambler lids fit it, and particularly wide champagne bottles won't even go in.

Here's the honest maths: what you put in is what you get back. A bottle that spent the afternoon in a warm boot won't get cold in this chiller either. It extends a state, it doesn't create one. Know that, pack the evening before, and you'll have nothing to worry about come evening.

What it can do, though, it does across the board. As well as wine, sparkling wine, cider and tall beer bottles fit, and if you're not bringing any alcohol at all, stand a litre bottle of water in it and it'll still be cold in the evening. At a meet that runs from four until ten, that's the difference between a bottle you open and one you pack away again.

The open design is deliberate, so different bottle shapes fit. But it costs you two things: security in a moving car and protection from anything that flies around in the evening. By the lake at dusk, put a saucer or a glass over the neck of the bottle. YETI itself also says some sparkling wine and champagne bottles are too wide, and pot-bellied Burgundy shapes fall into the same category.

And it's a one-bottle device. If one bottle for two is coming along, this wine chiller. If six cans and two bottles need to stay cold for the whole group, the drinks cooler with ice. And empty it weighs 890 grams, with a bottle a good two kilos. No big deal for the boot, but it is for a hike with a rucksack.

For evenings next to the car not for the rucksack

This wine chiller is for anyone who drives somewhere and stays there: the viewpoint after a mountain pass, the paddock on a Saturday evening, the concours lawn once the barriers come down.

It's an object for people who plan the evening like the route. If you wash your weekend car in the morning and drive it somewhere beautiful in the evening, you've been improvising with the bottle until now. Part of that is not needing glass next to the car: the matching stainless steel wine tumbler stays upright even when someone bumps the folding table.

As a gift it works for the same reason it justifies itself. It's pricey enough that you don't buy it on a whim, and everyday enough that it doesn't disappear into a cupboard. If you know someone who takes their car out at the weekend and parks up somewhere in the evening, it's a pretty safe bet.

Who it isn't for: the rucksack, the hike, the kitchen at home. There, a fridge is two metres away. And if you're catering for twelve guests, the maths is different anyway. It pays off when it's constantly shuttling between the boot and the folding table, not when it sits on a shelf looking good. And if you only ever drink your wine on the patio at home, you don't need a vessel that can handle life in a boot.

How it ages comes down to one move YETI doesn't mention anywhere: take the silicone insert out after every evening. That's where the water that ran off the label collects, and exactly where the ring forms that you can't get off after the third season. Both parts can go in the dishwasher, let them dry open, done. Then the base looks the same in the fourth summer as in the first, and on the outside only the finish tells you everywhere you've been.

Do I need to pre-chill the wine chiller?

Yes. It doesn't chill anything, it preserves whatever state it's given. A room-temperature stainless steel body pulls cold out of the bottle first. 30 minutes in the fridge or 10 minutes between the ice packs in the cooler is enough. It doesn't belong in the freezer.

Do I need ice?

No, and that's the whole point. No ice means no meltwater, no soggy label and no water ring on the boot sill. If you want to bring ice anyway, a classic drinks cooler suits you better.

Which bottles fit?

Most 0.75-litre bottles: wine, sparkling wine, cider and tall beer bottles. YETI itself says some champagne and sparkling wine bottles are too wide. The same goes for pot-bellied Burgundy shapes. A litre bottle of water fits too.

Is there a lid for it?

No, and none fits either. The chiller is deliberately open at the top so different bottle shapes go in. None of the Rambler lids fit it. For the drive that means: transport it empty, otherwise the wine ends up on the floor mat.

How long does the bottle stay cold?

YETI deliberately doesn't give a number of hours. In practice, a pre-chilled bottle lasts an evening at the folding table if the chiller was pre-chilled too and stands in the shade. Any exact number of hours would be a guess.

Can it go in the dishwasher?

Yes, body and silicone insert. Take the insert out first and let both dry open afterwards. No chlorine bleach, no scouring agents. Otherwise the water that ran off the label collects right under the insert.

How big and how heavy is it?

10.8 centimetres wide, 23.8 centimetres tall, 890 grams empty. A standard bottle pokes out a good way at the top, and you grab it by the neck. With a bottle it's a good two kilos. No issue for the boot, but it is for a hiking rucksack.

Before you set off: chill the bottle and the chiller together. 30 minutes in the fridge or 10 minutes between the ice packs in the cooler is enough. Not in the freezer.

On the road: transport it empty. The chiller is open at the top, and the bottle travels in the cool bag.

At your destination: set it on a level surface in the shade of the open tailgate, then stand the bottle in it. The ring on the base holds it on metal, wood and the folding table.

Afterwards: take out the silicone insert, body and insert into the dishwasher, let both dry open. No chlorine bleach, no scouring agents.