Yao Ming, vintner: UPDATE

Big news in the wine world if you are into basketball and the rapidly developing Chinese wine market. Yao Ming, the recently retired Houston Rockets star, announced today he has formed Yao Family Wines in the Napa Valley. The company has released its inaugural wine, a 2009 Napa Valley cabernet sauvignon, under the brand name YAO MING®.

“Yao Family Wines crafts world-class wines from Napa Valley, and we look forward to introducing wine lovers in China to this remarkable wine growing region,” Ming said in a news release. “I believe that wine can bring people together, and make our lives more enjoyable. Basketball gave me the opportunity to live in the United States and discover many wonderful things in America. Now I look forward to bringing great wines from California back to the Chinese people.”

As you’re probably  aware, the market for wine both imported and domestic is growing exponentially in China. In 2009, that country accounted for 1.5 billion cases, a 5 percent increase over the year before, according to The Wine Institute.  And according to this report, a Hong Kong-based bank is offering to loan as much as $5 million in Hong Kong dollars provided the lender is buying from a list of 50 top producers.

Ming is working with Napa winemaker Tom Hinde, who previously was  general manager of Kendall-Jackson Wine Estates, as well as president of Sonoma’s Flowers Vineyard and Winery.  Although Ming isn’t actually making the wine, he is making blending suggestions. According to a story in the Wine Spectator, he got interested in wine through having dinners on the road with fellow players knowledgeable about wine.

The label features a sketch of the Napa Valley with the ancient Chinese character for Yao. Actually, China and the Napa Valley go back a long way. Chinese workers helped build the nascent industry back in the 1800s until racist laws chased them out. Here’s a story I wrote about this a couple of years ago.

The wine is available now in China and will be for sale in the U.S. next year. It will sell for about $289 a bottle in China.

UPDATE: There’s been a bit of buzz about that price, which some Internet commenters found exorbitant, several citing the fact that there is no big-time winemaker or famous vineyard. I called for clarification and found that the $289 price for the Chinese market includes import and other taxes. The U.S. price is going to be around $170.