The Key to the Key
by Paul Dunseath

THE LOGO for the Amateur Winemakers of Canada is a massive, antique-style gold key, as is the symbol of achievement (the keeper trophy) awarded to the Grand Champion of Canada.

THE STORY DATES BACK to the late 1960s when John G. Armstrong, who had been a major moving force behind the creation of the Amateur Winemakers of Ontario, set his sights farther afield and conceived the idea of a national organization, and a national competition in which only Provincial award winners would be eligible to compete, with the person achieving the highest overall point score being declared the Grand Champion of Canada.

IN THE 1960S the law in Ontario required that every amateur wine competition had to be approved in advance, in writing, by the LCBO; strictly speaking, it was illegal to take a bottle of your own wine to a friend s house, or even to drink someone else's wine when visiting them! John's struggle was an uphill one, but ultimately successful (John's influence lives on; the certificates used to this day by AWC employ the same rendition of a grape-crushing scene as the original AWO certificates).

 WE QUICKLY DECIDED upon a gold key, representing the key to the wine cellar, on a ribbon rather than a chain (to avoid entangling chains when the provincial and Canadian Grand Champions turned out to be the same person), and John then tasked me with finding a suitable key.

THE FIRST NATIONAL COMPETITION was held in 1971, and Gary Lucier of Windsor became the first Canadian Grand Champion. In 1972 it was held in Calgary, and when the results were announced, I had achieved the honour for that year. Winners and finalists in the various classes received awards of engraved wine decanters and silver goblets, but there was no trophy for the Grand Champion, unlike the chain of office and silver tastevin for the Provincial Grand Champions. John therefore struck a committee of three (himself, Gary and me) to identify a suitable keeper trophy for the Canadian Grand Champion.

IT TURNED OUT that a local (Ottawa) firm of locksmiths still had a small stock of blank keys from the defunct (1800s-era) Ottawa-Carleton Gaol and these had the desired look of solidity and style. After some persuading (and a lot of suspicious looks from the locksmiths), I managed to convince them to sell the key blanks, cut to a generic pattern specifically designed not fit any of their locks! John then had these gold-plated and suitably engraved; when the stock ran out, Dave Muir of Whitby provided a further supply, cut to the original pattern but made out of brass.

ALTHOUGH BOTH THE ORIGINAL KEYS and their replicas appear identical, there is one giveaway for the original stock; the depth of the engraving is much shallower on the originals. I've often wondered what the engraver of those original keys thought when he realized that the material into which he was attempting to cut the name of the recipient and year of award was not a relatively soft brass or copper base under the gold plate, but solid forged steel!