Yao Ming Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

Rare new release of the NBA legend's private Cabernet Sauvignon.  95 Points Wine Enthusiast: "A lovely Cabernet, richly attractive and deeply flavored in blackberries, blueberries and black currants. Made from vineyards scattered across Napa Valley, the wine has been blended with a splash of Merlot, Cabernet Franc and Petit Verdot. It shows a dramatic structure marked particularly by firm, smooth tannins, and it finishes dry. Shows the stuffing to age for years."Yao Family Wines is a Napa Valley producer founded in 2011 by Yao Ming, the Chinese-born, five-time NBA All Star. Now retired from the Houston Rockets, Yao Ming is the majority owner in Yao Family Wines, which has entered the wine market with a luxury Cabernet Sauvignon sourced from Napa Valley vineyards. Yao has said in interviews that he developed a taste for Cabernet Sauvignon while in the NBA, and that his new Napa venture eventually will own its own vineyards. Tom Hinde, formerly general manager of Kendall-Jackson and president of Flowers Vineyard, is the winemaker at Yao Family Wines and is a minority shareholder. The winery’s debut release is the 2009 Yao Ming Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, which is 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot, 7% Cabernet Franc and 3% Petit Verdot.. 82% Cabernet Sauvignon, 8% Merlot.Robert Parker: ""I am aware of all the arguments that major celebrities lending their names to wines is generally a formula for mediocrity, but that is not the case with Yao Ming. These are high class wines. The two Cabernets are actually brilliant, and the Reserve bottling ranks alongside just about anything made in Napa."

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