Kalala brings Organic expertise while a continuation of Little Straw’s history and wine
Kalala Organic Estate Winery, a family-owned winery producing organic grapes and wine since 2006, is pleased to announce that they have acquired Little Straw Vineyards.
Little Straw Vineyards began operating as Slamka Cellars in 1996, producing award-winning wines from their Ourtoland Road winery in West Kelowna.
After a quarter of a century, the Slamka family decided it was time to retire and pass the torch. Ownership of the winery officially changed at the end of 2021.
“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 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. We thank all of our customers over the last several decades from the bottom of our hearts and look forward to seeing the evolution of Little Straw Vineyards under the new ownership. We wish you all the best.”
The Slamka family, previous owners of Little Straw Vineyards
The new owners are ecstatic about their new venture and seeing what the future holds for them at this new location.
“We relate to the Slamka family in so many ways. We are both immigrant families who started a winery in West Kelowna. 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. My Kalala family and I are looking forward to continuing their legacy and seeing what the future holds for us at this new location.”
Karnail Singh Sidhu, founder and viticulturist at Kalala Organic Estate Winery
This is a big year of change for the Kalala family. Plans are in place to transition to an organic vineyard over the next few years. The official launch of the new winery is scheduled for spring 2023, where they will be introducing their premium organic label, Dostana Wines. Dostana means friendship in the Hindi language and the family is excited for everyone to have a taste of Dostana (friendship), next year.
Kalala is currently building its new team and hiring for several different positions including an accounting assistant, marketing and events assistant and seasonal wine shop associates. If you are interested in applying, then please email your resume and cover letter to jobs@kalala.ca.
The Little Straw vineyards wineshop is currently open 7 days a week. We invite everyone to come to meet the new owners and taste some of the flagship Little Straw wines such as the Tapestry, Auxerrois Viognier Frizzante, Marechal Foch, Southern Cross and more.
For more information on Little Straw Vineyard, you can link to these previous articles – Little Straw Winery Releases Library Wine and Little Straw Vineyards for Tapestry.
To purchase Little Straw wines go to the winery website.