Kalala winery buys Little Straw winery

Recently, Little Straw Vineyards privately went up for sale with the hope that the new owners would continue Little Straw's legacy of exceptional estate grape growing and winemaking.

The call was quietly answered by someone close-by and like-minded -- Karnail Singh Sidhu of Kalala Organic Estate Winery.

"We relate to the Slamka family (former owners of Little Straw) in so many ways," said Sidhu.

"We are both immigrant families who started a winery in West Kelowna. When I was looking for a (second) location, I heard the Slamka family was ready to retire and were privately looking for a new owner. It was a perfect fit for both of us. My Kalala family and I are looking forward to continuing their legacy and seeing what the future holds for us."

The sale price was not disclosed.

Kalala will maintain its winery and vineyard site at 3361 Glencoe Rd.

For the time being, Kalala will operate Little Straw's winery and vineyards at 2815 Ourtoland Rd. as is, selling the latest vintages of Little Straw's flagship wines -- Tapestry, Auxerrois Viognier Frizzante, Marechal Foch and Southern Cross.

However, next year, Little Straw will be renamed Dostana Winery and will be the location for Kalala's premium-label Dostana wines, which include Riesling, Chardonnay, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon.

The Little Straw name won't be totally lost.

There will be mention of Little Straw on Dostana labels.

Kalala, which is already certified organic at its Glencoe Road site, intends to make the Dostana location on Ourtoland Road organic as well.

By the way, Dostana means 'friendship' in the Hindi language and Kalala means 'a miracle place.'

"Since I am passionate about organic viticulture, our new location had to have a high potential to become a sustainable organic winery," said Sidhu.

"Little Straw Vineyards showed great potential for the transition."

Kalala has been producing organic grapes and wine since 2006.

Little Straw was one of West Kelowna's first estate wineries when it started production in 1996.

"Our father purchased the land and planted our first vineyard back in 1969," said former Little Straw owners and brothers Peter, Timothy and Rick Slamka.

"This place is near and dear to our hearts. We have raised our children here and created an abundance of memories. We had been thinking of retiring from this business for a while and were just waiting for the right person to pass our years of hard work onto. Karnail and his family were a perfect fit for us as they share similar values and they have a great vision to take the winery to the next stage."