Sikh family acquires winery in West Kelowna as they herald big changes ahead

By Asia Samachar | Canada |

Kalala Organic Estate Winery, a Sikh family-owned winery producing organic grapes and wine since 2006, have acquired another family-owned winery in the British Columbia as they prepare for major changes ahead.

It’s a unique deal as the Singh family is acquiring a winery run by the Slamka family which started the enterprise a quarter of a century.

“We relate to the Slamka family in so many ways. We are both immigrant families who started a winery in West Kelowna,” said Kalala Organic Estate Winery founder and viticulturist Karnail Singh Sidhu in a statement emailed to Asia Samachar.

The Slamka family is believed to have come from Slovak, though it was not mentioned in the statement, while the Singh family traces its origins back to Punjab, with Karnail arriving from India in the mid-1990s.

Kalala Organic Estate Winery described itself as a small family-owned winery located on the Upper Bench of West Kelowna, BC. Both its vineyards and wine are certified organic. It is also well known for winning gold at the Chardonnay du Monde competition four times while offering many other award wining wines.

Little Straw Vineyards began operating as Slamka Cellars in 1996, producing award winning wines from their Ourtoland Road winery in West Kelowna.

“Our father purchased the land and planted our first vineyard back in 1969. We were one of the very first wineries in West Kelowna. This place holds near and dear to our hearts, we have raised our children here and created abundance of memories,” the Slamka family said in the same statement.

“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,” the family added.

On their part, Karnail said: “We understand how hard it is to start a winery from scratch and how much effort, time and patience is required to run a successful winery in this Canadian wine region.

“When I was looking for a better location, I heard that the Slamka family was ready to retire and were privately looking for a new owner to leave their winery to; therefore, I decided to reach out to them. Since I am passionate about organic viticulture, our new location had to have a high potential to become a sustainable organic winery and Little Straw Vineyards showed great potential for the transition. It was a perfect fit for both of us.”

The statement added that it was a big year of change for the Kalala family, adding that plans were in place to transition to an organic vineyard over the next few years.

It said the official launch of the new winery was scheduled for spring 2023, where they will be introducing their premium organic label, Dostana Wines.

Dostana means friendship in Hindi language and the family is excited for everyone to have a taste of Dostana (friendship), next year, the statement added.





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