Foster’s Group to Buy Napa Valley Vineyard

Foster’s Group Ltd.’s Beringer Blass unit said its Etude wine business has agreed to buy a winemaking site in Napa Valley to produce Pinot Noir and Cabernet varietal wines. The price wasn’t disclosed.

The site in the Carneros region of Napa County includes 40,000 square feet of buildings and a 10-acre vineyard, Beringer said. Etude expects the site to be operating as a winery no later than the first quarter of fiscal 2004. The transaction is expected to close in August.

Foster’s also owns Beringer Wine Estates, which it acquired for $1.2 billion in 2000.