Low-lying clouds and gripping cold surrounded Backsberg last Friday as Vino Varsity 2013 was about to kick off.

It wasn’t long until the heat was turned up.

The UCT bus arrived with a group of supporters, wearing warrior face-paint and chanting deep-pitched war cries. Tuks entered the arena with a four-man strong team and one supporter, walking tall and sussing out the competition. Nothing could intimidate them.

They were here for one thing – the trophy! Maties arrived fashionably late, dressed in red and black attire, sporting top hats. They filled the venue, looked confident and repeatedly belted out Maties songs of encouragement!

The first round comprised 30 general knowledge questions covering wine history, winemaking and international wines. Maties had their A game on and dominated this section.

All was not lost; the second round commenced and Ikeys confidently announced that this would be their round for the taking. Teams tasted through ten flights of wines. Each flight comprised three wines. Teams had to identify cultivars, origins, vintages, RS levels and faults, amongst other questions. Someone quipped that the only fault to a wine is “that it has not been drunk yet!”