Matilda and The Mongol Derby
What does Mount Burrumboot Estate have in common with the Mongol Derby? Apart from both being a bit edgy and outside the square, we share Matilda, our daughter… read on.
Many of you know our daughter, intrepid traveller and erstwhile winemaker, Matilda, a 21 year old Australian student studying in Spain on exchange this year. In August, she’s off to Mongolia to ride 1000km in two weeks across the Mongolian steppes in the inaugural Mongol Derby. What is the Mongol Derby, you ask? Only the toughest and longest horse race in the world! Riding hardy Mongolian ponies over the Mongolian Steppes, and living on mutton and mare’s milk, the race path will follow Ghengis Khaan’s original pony express changing ponies every 40km, all in the name of adventure and, most importantly, for charity.
Dubbed ‘The Mongol Derby’, it is the inaugural race organised by ‘The Adventurists’, an organisation that hosts a plethora of adventure-based rallies and races in their fight to raise money for desperately poor Mongolian nomads, while at the same time creating an event to cater for the adventurers (and possibly lunatics!) amongst us.
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With only twenty-five competitors selected from throughout the world, including Matilda representing Australia, the Mongol Derby is going to be a race like no other, an ultimate test in endurance.
Being raised on a farm in central Victoria, in the southern part of Australia, and having grown up with horses, Tildy’s ready to race. Ready, in fact impatient, to take on the various challenges of staving off the Steppe wolves and rabid dogs, as well as saddle sores, blisters, bruises, (hopefully not broken bones!), navigating from one uurtu (Horse Station) to the next, and living on mutton and mares' milk. Definitely not for the faint hearted!
This is not just another charity event, but an exciting and edgy challenge for a selected group of eclectic and possibly insane gladiators – for the old fashioned, red blooded adventurers that still lurk within the depths of our comfortable and safe modern society…
Like a great Heathcote Shiraz, Matilda just gets bolder as she ages, and so she is busily raising the funds to take part in this great event and charity. She thought we might like to help… we thought of a chocolate drive… but what everyone really wants, now that the weather has turned cold and wet, is a wine drive. So Andrew and I put our heads together, and came up with …
The Mongol Derby daring Dozen!
More exciting than galloping across the Steppes!
More palate-pleasing than fermented mare’s milk!
And a lot redder…
Two bottles of “Mongolian Madness” Merlot (AKA 2005 Mount Burrumboot Merlot)
Two bottles of “Mad Mongolian Jack’s” Petit Verdot (AKA 2005 Mad Uncle Jack’s Petit Verdot)
And two new releases:
Two bottles of “Rabid Dog” Tempranillo (AKA 2006 Mount Burrumboot Tempranillo)
Two bottles of “Lost my GPS” Sangiovese (AKA 2006 Mount Burrumboot Sangiovese)
And as a special release of our own museum stock
Two bottles of the 2002 Mount Burrumboot Estate Reserve Shiraz, rated 94 by James Halliday (normally $50/bottle)
This would normally cost $368, but because we are keen to help Matilda raise as much as possible, we are offering this to our customers for $300, (plus freight), with $50 from each box sold going to Matilda and The Mongol Derby.
If you’d like to find out more about the Mongol Derby and Matilda’s part in it, and follow her preparation and progress, check out the following links:
http://mongolderby09.theadventurists.com/matildainmongolia
http://mongolderby.theadventurists.com/
To receive your case of “The Mongol Derby Daring Dozen”, visit our online cellar.
Or call us on 03 5432 9238 or 0438 329 238.