Yao Ming seeks slam dunk with new wine

(CBS/AP) Since retiring this summer, Yao Ming has been making his mark on the future of Chinese cuisine.

In September, Yao took the fight against eating shark fins back to his homeland, where demand for the traditional delicacy is soaring. His message to China's wealthy: Help save the species and stop eating that $80 bowl of shark fin soup.

Yao Ming to China: Stop eating shark fins

But now Yao is taking a very different message to his homeland's upper class - he's banking on the country's thriving wine market to help his new vintage score a slam dunk with Chinese connoisseurs.

The recently retired Houston Rockets center on Monday released the first-ever bottles of his new Yao Ming-branded wine.

But while crushing grapes is surely more innocuous than killing sharks, Yao's 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon will bite you in the wallet. The cost for a bottle? $289. (That includes a pricey Chinese import tax).

Yao's company, Yao Family Wines, has produced 5,000 cases of its first release and the wine will be available in the U.S. later in 2012.

Don't worry - the price tag in America will only be $170 per bottle.

The 31-year-old retired in July because of chronic foot injuries. He now attends college in Shanghai.