Yao Ming Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 2009 Archives

Yao Ming Cabernet Sauvignon 2009

In November 2011, then-recently retired NBA star Yao Ming established his new Napa Valley winery, Yao Family Wines. But the story really begins in 2004, when Yao Ming was still in the early stages of his basketball career. Yao’s Houston Rockets teammate Dikembe Mutombo introduced him to the institution of the Texas steakhouse. Over many steak dinners, Dikembe tutored Yao on the magic of a great steak and wine pairing, and Yao became an aspiring wine aficionado.

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A Note About Vintages

Although you will see vintage dates throughout Winervana, I don’t put too much importance on them. Major producers these days strive for a consistent style, and largely succeed. (Especially in California, aided by the usually even climate there.) For instance, when shopping for a particular wine, if you have a choice between a current release and one that’s a few years old, there will certainly be differences in price and the character of the wine. But upon release, those two examples of the same wine are likely to be quite similar, especially for New World producers, who often enjoy more reliably consistent weather than Old World producers do. (Of course, global climate change may disrupt things for everybody.)

Wine Enthusiast has an interesting post about this here.