Cave Spring Cellars was founded in 1986 by grape grower Leonard Pennachetti and wine maker Angelo Pavan. From the beginning, they have vinified vitis vinifera grapes - the noblest grape varieties of the Old World - from vineyards along Niagara's Beamsville Bench. Nestled at the heart of this narrow, fifteen kilometre shelf of the Niagara Escarpment, Pennachetti's Cave Spring Vineyard is one of Niagara's oldest vinifera plantings.

Wine lovers everywhere - in the Old and New World alike - have long recognized the intimate connection between authenticity of origin and the highest standards of quality in winemaking. At Cave Spring we believe that our wines are unique because they capture what the French call 'goût de terroir', or 'taste of the land' from which they come; and that no amount of artifice - enological or otherwise - could ever replicate the particular flavour profile they achieve. The uniqueness of our wines stems directly from their authenticity of origin.

In 1972 an eighteen year old named Leonard Pennachetti was studying the geography of his native Niagara Peninsula in High School and became aware of the unique micro-climate which the interaction of Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment creates.
A family history in the area reached back to the early 1920's when Len's grandfather, Giuseppe, emigrated from his home town of Fermo in central Italy to work as a mason on Niagara's Welland Canal. Years later, when Giuseppe retired from the concrete business which he and his sons built, he took to a passion which had been in his blood from his days as a young man in Italy - vineyards. On lands of modest quality and with native labrusca grape varieties which were the order of the day, Giuseppe would prune and tie his hobby vineyard with his son John and grandson Leonard. The wines were, like the vines, wanting in quality, and the family knew that better was possible. Especially the young Leonard, who knew that moderate lake breezes hinder severe winter cold, especially along the slopes of the Niagara Escarpment.

Len's father, John T. Pennachetti, at the time heading the family's successful concrete manufacturing business, saw his son's interest in growing grape vines and decided that the family would invest in better vineyards. He took Len up in an airplane and the two scouted the escarpment benchlands, quickly realizing that the area of the historic Cave Spring Farm, because of its hillside location, heavy clay soils and proximity to Lake Ontario was the site they wanted.

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