Australia's biggest liquor maker Foster's Group Ltd is expected to continue selling its wine unit even as it has returned to growth after more than a year of decline.

ACNielsen figures show that Foster's share of the Australian bottled wine market climbed to 22.4 per cent in May, up 0.2 percentage points from the same month the previous year.

The company's wine sales in Australia was also up in May, growing 0.1 per cent from 12 months earlier, compared with a 0.9 per cent fall for the market as a whole.

Foster's new wine division boss David Dearie has sought to elevate sales against a surge of oversupply both locally and abroad by intensifying marketing efforts on its existing wine brands while seeking to identify the next shift in fashion.

This forward scheme earlier this month led the company to stop the sale of four vineyards and a winery planned for disposal after a strategic review completed by Foster's in 2009. Any changes in Foster's wine performance is, however, not expected to cease its proposed spin off, which analysts predict to result in an acquisition offer for the CUB beer division.

CUB, which accounts for half of Foster's sales revenue and two-thirds of pre-tax earnings, is approximated to be valued at $12.5 billion to a foreign buyer.

China's Bright Food, Japan's Asahi and US brewer Molson Coors are all viewed to be keen in proposing a bid.

If listed separately on the market, the wine division is estimated to have a market value of about $2.1bn, less than a third of what Foster's has spent since 1996 to build its wine empire by acquiring Mildara Blass, Beringer Blass and Southcorp.