The Taittinger champagne house and its associated French and American wineries have officially been put up for sale by Star GT Acquisition, the vehicle of American hotel entrepreneur Barry Sternlicht. Sternlicht, who bought France's Taittinger family business empire last autumn for its portfolio of luxury and budget hotel assets, is expected to gain more than €300 (£207.3m) from the wines business. Taittinger owns vineyards and sells 4.8 million bottles of champagne a year.