December 18/Cutchogue, N.Y./Business Wire -- Southport Lane has announced that it has formed Premium Beverage Group Inc., an alcoholic beverage sector rollup. Premium Beverage’s first acquisitions are Lieb Cellars and Premium Wine Group, two of Southport’s private equity fund portfolio companies.

Richard D. Bailey, CEO of Premium Beverage Group, stated, “We have seen a great deal of opportunity in the small-and middle-market alcoholic beverage sector and believe a consolidation strategy under a public company umbrella makes a lot of sense.” Bailey is also a managing director at Southport Lane Management LLC, the general partner of Southport Lane’s private equity fund, and has been serving as chief executive officer of Beverage Operations since May 2013. Lieb Cellars produces and sells award winning estate grown wines wholesale and retail from their 42 acre vineyard in Cutchogue, NY. They also lease an additional 44 acres on Long Island’s North Fork. Their tasting rooms in Mattituck and Cutchogue, N.Y., are open to the public year round. A new tasting room in East Hampton, N.Y., is scheduled to open in early 2014.

Premium Wine Group was founded in 2000 by Mark Lieb and award winning winemaker Russell Hearn and is a contract winemaking facility designed to provide wineries throughout Long Island an economical way to produce wine without huge investment in equipment and facilities. Premium Wine Group produces wines not only for its own Lieb Cellars’ wholesale and mass market efforts, but also approximately 20 other wineries on the North Fork of Long Island.

The acquisition of Lieb Cellars and Premium Wine Group is expected to be completed before the end of the current calendar year.