Robert Parker calls Yao Ming’s 2010 Cabernet ‘brilliant’

Chinese ex-basketball star Yao Ming’s new career as a Californian winery owner is entering a new phase after his 2010 Cabernet impressed leading wine critic Robert Parker.

Robert Parker reviewed Yao Family Wines for the first time in the October edition of The Wine Advocate and gave the wine high praise saying it was, “impressive to see what the big man is doing in the wine game”.

He reviewed three of Yao’s 2010 vintage wines and scored 95 to the 2010 Yao Ming Family Reserve Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

He wrote: “The 2010 Yao Ming Family Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon possesses an opaque blue/purple colour as well as a gorgeous bouquet of spring flowers, red and black fruits and subtle toasty oak.

“Full-bodied and impeccably made with beautiful texture, length and richness, it can be drunk now, but will stand the test of time for 15 or more years.

The former NBA player recently announced that he would lower his wine’s price and target China’s growing middle class wine drinkers.

Parker added: “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.”