Foster's Wine Estates is to sell its Sonoma estate Geyserville to the wine company owned by film director Francis Ford Coppola.
Niebaum-Coppola is expected to take full control of the winery from February 2006.
Geyserville's most successful brand, Chateau Souverain, will be retained by Foster's, which will move production to its Asti winery, also in the region.
It is expected that Niebaum-Coppola will use its new facility to produce wines currently made under contract at other wineries. Its existing Niebaum-Coppola Winery will be renamed Rubicon (after its flagship wine) and used for estate wines only.