More chapters ahead in the Book of Len

Niagara Entrepreneurs to award Len Pennachetti its Lifetime Achievement Award

By Mike Williscraft
NewsNow

With a career of achievements already behind him, Len Pennachetti says he has many more miles on his odometer.

Among his cherished accomplishments: his prized, internationally recognized vineyard for Cave Spring Cellars; the building of Main Street Jordan into a major tourism entity, and; his tenure on the Vintners Quality Alliance board of directors during the time the VQA designation was developed and eventually proclaimed by the provincial government in 2000.

For these key resume items, and others, the Niagara Entrepreneur of the Year Awards committee has named Pennachetti the winner of its Lifetime Achievement Award.

While he certainly is thankful for the award and recognizes the gravity of the accolade, he is still left with a bit of a funny feeling.

“It truly is a great honour,” said Pennachetti, who has won two NEYA awards in the past.

“It’s the lifetime part I see as slightly humourous. I received a similar award years ago at Cuvee. I didn’t really understand what it meant. It was like what Mark Twain said, ‘Reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated’.”

“It feels a little like that.”

Indeed, Pennachetti and his wife, Helen, launched a new chapter to their lives late last year when they sold off the hotel and restaurant aspects of their business to Vintage Inns. The vineyard and winery remain with Pennachetti. …

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