You can checkout the new “Yao Family Wines” web site here that just launched today for more information about Yao’s new wine company. NOTE: the web site may be getting overwhelmed with traffic since Yao linked to it from his Facebook page, which has over 1.1 million followers. So if the web site is down, try to visit again later.

And here’s the press release from earlier today about Yao’s new venture…

ST. HELENA, Calif., Nov. 28, 2011 — /PRNewswire/ — Yao Ming, recently retired NBA star, owner of the Shanghai Sharks and humanitarian, announced today the establishment of his new Napa Valley wine company: Yao Family Wines. The company has released its inaugural wine under the brand name YAO MING®, a 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon.

The YAO MING® 2009 Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon is available in China immediately and will be available in the United States in 2012. For more information, please visit the Yao Family Wines website at www.yaofamilywines.com.

On Sunday night in Shanghai, Yao Ming attended a Special Olympics East Asia charity gala where several items were auctioned off, including the first bottle of wine from Yao’s new winery.

The bottle of wine and a Salvatore Ferragamo shoe last from custom-made shoes recently made for Yao were auctioned off for 200,000 RMB together (US $31,000). Yao’s most recent Facebook post states that the wine made up about US $20,000 of that total. A total of 2.89 million RMB (US $450,000) was raised at the charity auction. Well done!

Click here for more photos from the charity gala and auction, thanks to Raymond in China.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal came out with an article today that goes into more details about Yao’s entry into the wine making business. It’s clear that Yao is in the business for the long haul.

A few days ago Yao did a promotional program for the popular cookie OREO for Kraft Food’s Nabisco division in Shanghai. Yao is a spokesperson for the brand, and in the interview revealed a few things about his daughter Amy that we hadn’t heard before.

Yao said Amy hasn’t yet shown early signs of her parents’ athleticism, but does seem to have some musical talent, singing and swinging to the beat of music. Yao joked that Amy already has him beat in the music department.

When asked about his life after retirement, Yao said he is as busy as ever. The most enjoyable time of his day is dinner time where he can relax and enjoy time with his whole family together: his parents, his wife, Amy, and sometimes his wife’s parents as well.

Click here for more photos and information from the interview and the event. Thanks to Raymond in China for all the scoop.

This week Yao is launching his own wine intended exclusively for the Chinese market. It’s a 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon produced in California’s Napa Valley. Checkout the video interview of Yao from the Wall Street Journal.

USA Today reports (via China Daily) the following:

“It comes in a magnum bottle – meaning it can hold 1.5 liters of wine – costs 3,800 yuan ($596) a pop and is extremely rare. None of the 1,200 bottles in existence will be sold on the open market.”

There is a discrepancy regarding the price. In the Marketwatch video, it’s reported that it will sell for $298 (U.S.), whereas the China Daily article reports the price is double. We’ll see.

Regardless, Yao’s Napa Valley wine company will make its debut Sunday night at an auction for Special Olympics East Asia.

Yao was invited to give a keynote speech a couple of days ago at one of the most unlikely conferences you’d expect: an SAP conference in Beijing in front of a crowd of IT managers, software developers, administrators and business process experts.

Even Yao admitted he didn’t understand what everyone was talking about at the SAP “Sapphire Now” Conference, but he did stress in his speech the importance of continuous learning, among many other topics.

Click here for more details of Yao’s speech as interpreted by Raymond in China, along with more photos of Yao.

Raymond has some great reports and photos in the forum of Yao Ming going back to school at Shanghai Jiaotong University on Monday. Yao is majoring in economics and is taking a combination of classroom and 1-on-1 instruction by designated professors.

Obviously his fellow students were excited to see Yao. Many waited outside to take photos of him, and needed security guards to clear a path to the classroom and when leaving the school.

Some of the classes he attended on Monday included Major Issues Study in Chinese Contemporary History…

…and a 1-on-1 class in Linear Algebra…

….and a 1-on-1 class in University English…

Yao held a press conference later to discuss the details of his studies, and to plead for the public and media to give some breathing room as he returns to school, and to not disrupt other students. Click here for Raymond’s full summary of the presser.

Raymond reports that on Thursday in Shanghai, Yao’s Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks announced a deal with Li Ning where the Chinese company will design, produce and market jerseys, shoes, sneakers and other products for the team.

Below is some of the gear displayed at the news conference (click here for more photos):

The deal between the Sharks and Li Ning is interesting because China ANTA has an agreement with the China Basketball Association to supply ANTA jerseys and shoes for every CBA team. The Sharks will continue to wear ANTA gear on the court, but wear Li Ning off the court.

Li Ning will also work with the Sharks on several basketball-related projects in the greater Shanghai region, including:

– the construction of a Shanghai Li Ning basketball park;
– establishment of an exclusive Li Ning ~ Shanghai MAXXIS Sharks basketball training camp
– regular fan gatherings and other meaningful community activities

The deputy general manager for the Sharks said that ANTA and Reebok were considered as potential partners, but the Sharks chose Li Ning because of their additional emphasis on the Sharks’ junior team, as well as their long-term vision for basketball development in the Shanghai region.

For more photos and information on the deal, click here.

In case you missed it, a couple of weeks ago Yao and Shaquille O’Neal met up in Shanghai, and Shaq posted a funny video of them together:

Raymond reports that Shaq was in China for his “Goodbye Legend” roadshow, sponsored by Li Ning. On his trip, Shaq had proposed to Yao the idea of both of them organizing their own teams that would compete against each other on a tour of Chinese cities as part of Shaq’s Big Challenge program in the next two months or so. But Yao had to politely decline since he said he will be busy with his Shanghai Jiaotong University studies, and would not have much free time until next May or June.

Here are some other funny videos from Shaq’s trip to China (each video is only 15 seconds long):

Raymond reports in the forum that a few days ago Yao flew from Shanghai to the scenic tourist city of Lijiang in the Yunnan province, then took a 4-5 hour car ride to Ninglang county to visit one of the primary schools built by his foundation.

The ride was fairly bumpy, and the Volkswagen van he rode in was too small such that every hour or so, the car would have to pull over and stop so Yao could stretch his legs.

During one part of the trip, the road was blocked for repair and maintenance, so Yao got out of the van to negotiate with the workers to allow the car to drive through.

Once Yao arrived at the school, he was greeted by a large throng of students and faculty.

This is the 7th school that has been built by the Yao Foundation, with six more scheduled to be built. Click here for more photos of Yao at the school.