Do Host Cups Really Keep Wine Cool?

Katie here. I was at Jacob Liquor the other day when I saw a curious little cup that claimed to keep wine at the proper serving temperature for two hours. The cup itself was called the Host Wine Freeze Cooling Cup. This sounded like a challenge and a cool experiment to boot, so in my own version of Does-It-Work Wednesday, I got myself a cup.

At home, I collected my supplies: red wine, white wine, my husband’s meat thermometer (it works), and my Host cup. Time to get started.

First up: red wine. My wine of choice this time was the Villa Guelpa Sizzano Nebbiolo blend from Piedmont, Italy.

Host’s advertising says that a refrigerated cup will keep red wine between 58 - 62 F for two hours. I got my cup good and refrigerated and added my wine. My first round of this experiment I did indoors, settling in to take wine temps every 5 minutes while I worked on my beautiful New Zealand wine map puzzle from Water and Wines (check out their wine puzzles, they are SO cool).

The wine started at room temperature (70 F), but within 5 minutes, it was down to 61 F. My temp recordings are summarized as follows:

At 25 minutes: 63 F

At 1 hr 10 minutes: 64 F

At 1 hr 20 minutes: 65 F

At 1 hr 40 minutes: 66 F

At 2 hr: 68 F

Okay, so maybe the wine didn’t stay under 62 F for two hours, but it was darn close for an hour. And who has wine in their glass for an hour without drinking it? Seriously.

Moving on to my white wine experiment. For this, I went with the Emmolo Sauvignon Blanc, Suisan Valley, California.

Host’s advertising claims a frozen cup will keep white wine between 43 - 53 F for two hours. I froze my cup and got started.

My wine started at 50 F, but by 5 minutes in, it was down to 41 F. The rest of my results were as follows:

At 35 minutes: 43 F

At 55 minutes: 44 F

At 1 hr 15 minutes: 46 F

At 1 hr 35 minutes: 49 F

At 1 hr 50 minutes: 52 F

At 2 hr: 54 F

I see this as a resounding success! My little Host cup did exactly as advertised. Beautiful (though again, I wonder, who has wine still in their glass 2 hours later? I haven’t met this person).

You may say, however, that you’d really plan to use a cooling cup outside, not indoors in a cool house. Fair point. Time to take this experiment outdoors.

I froze my little cup again and took it out on my back deck on a balmy 88 degree day, though to be fair to my cup, I left it in the shade.

My wine had come out of the fridge, so it started at 36 F. The rest of my results are as follows (I took the temp every 15 minutes this time because I was chasing kids around):

At 5 minutes: 41 F

At 15 minutes: 43 F

At 30 minutes: 46 F

At 45 minutes: 50 F

At 1 hr: 54 F

At 1 hr 15 minutes: 57 F

At 1 hr 30 minutes: 62 F

At 1 hr 45 minutes: 66 F

At 2 hr: 68 F

So the heat was a little harder on the poor Host cup, understandably. But it still kept the wine at the advertised temp for an hour, and I’m impressed.

The Host Wine Freeze Cooling Cup sells at Jacob Liquor for $16. I found it a little odd to drink wine from plastic rather than glass, but that’s just me. This is a cool idea to consider for the upcoming hot summer! Check it out!

And check out my puzzle progress 😉