The Australian brewer and wine company, Fosters Group Ltd, has announced that its wine division, Beringer Blass, has acquired the privately owned boutique wine company, T’Gallant Winemakers. Financial details of the deal have not been disclosed but analysts estimated the purchase price to be in the region of A$15m (US$9m).

T’Gallant is located on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria and markets its Pinot Gris wines to restaurants in the Melbourne and Sydney areas. At the cellar-door, retail prices for the company’s wines range from A$16 to A$49. T’Gallant’s sales in 2002 were in the region of 15,000 cases.

Foster’s said the existing management team, husband and wife, Kathleen Quealy and Kevin McCarthy, would continue to run the company.