Niagara winemaker honoured with Order of Canada after pandemic delay
It’s humbling more than anything. LEN PENNACHETTI ON RECEIVING THE ORDER OF CANADA
Len Pennachetti was in Ottawa last month to officially be made a Member of the Order of Canada by Governor General Mary Simon — more than three years after learning he had been awarded the honour.
The ceremony was delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s humbling more than anything,” said the 69-year-old Beamsville resident and founder of Cave Spring Vineyard and a longtime local tourism booster.
Pennachetti recalled he was driving into the winery office around 9 a.m. one day in December 2020 when he got the call from an official in the Governor General’s office.
“I just about drove off the road,” said Pennachetti, who noted the official knew all about him and was also asking him if he would accept the honour. “Of course I’ll accept it.”
Pennachetti said he was told not to mention the award to anyone until after the 2020 recipients were announced a short time later.
“My phone just lit up,” he said. “I got emails from all these people congratulating me.”
Pennachetti said he started growing grapes on Cave Spring Road in Beamsville in the 1970s and started making wine in 1986. In 1987, the company moved to Jordan.
Pennachetti was a driving force in establishing and supporting Vintner’s Quality Alliance (VQA) Ontario in the late 1980s.
“It was in the period immediately after the implementation of the (Canada-U.S.) Free Trade Agreement,” he said.
Pennachetti said VQA sets out an audited and certified process that guarantees the origin and quality of Ontario wine, adding the process was supported by provincial legislation in 1999.
“It was huge for the industry,” Pennachetti said. “It meant that we now could rely on the government to ensure that the standards were supported and were audited properly.”
Pennachetti also supported the wine sector’s development as a
long-standing director of Ontario Craft Wineries, Wine Growers Canada, and the International Riesling Foundation.
Former Ontario Wine Council chief executive officer Linda Franklin nominated Pennachetti for the award.
“I nominated Len for the Order of Canada because he is one of the most consequential leaders of his generation in the Canadian wine industry, but also because he has always been invested in the growth and success of his community,” Franklin said.
“He built Cave Spring Cellars from the ground up, but never lost sight of the importance of the wine industry as a whole, and always dedicated himself to advancing the industry, particularly through leadership in its provincial and national associations.”
Franklin added Pennachetti and his wife, Helen Young, reimagined Jordan, starting with the Inn on the Twenty and building a tourism destination where before there was only an old factory. In the process, they have employed many people and brought much needed investment into the community, she said.