Grant Westcott | Co-founder | Westcott Vineyards

Co-Founder · Westcott Vineyards · Niagara, Ontario

Co-Founder
Grant Westcott

The Steady Hand · From Bay Street to the Bench

Grant Westcott grew up on a Southern Ontario farm and spent four decades building some of Canada's most complex institutions. Then he sold the Toronto house, bought a vineyard, and found out what he was really working towards all along.

↓   Read his story

Grant Westcott, Co-Founder of Westcott Vineyards
Westcott Vineyards · Jordan, Ontario · Est. 2006
The Career
MSc Management · MIT · Assistant Deputy Minister · EVP, Canadian Banking · Associate Deputy Minister · Co-Founder, Westcott Vineyards
Grant Westcott, Co-Founder of Westcott Vineyards
Garett Westcott and Grant Westcott · Harvest

From Tobacco Country to the Niagara Bench

A Life Built on the Land

Grant Westcott's story begins where many great Canadian stories do: on the land. Growing up in Southern Ontario's tobacco farming country, he absorbed an early education in hard work, seasons, and the uncompromising rhythms of agriculture. That grounding never left him, even through decades of boardrooms and briefing notes.

As a teenager he headed to London, Ontario, a city buzzing with postwar ambition. From there: Telecommunications Engineering, a first career in IT in Toronto, and a decades-long ascent through some of Canada's most demanding institutions. Federal government. Canadian banking. MIT. Then, finally, the vineyard.

"We sold the house in Toronto, moved the family to Niagara, and our true journey to becoming winemakers began. It was truly a good year."

— Carolyn Hurst, Co-Founder

Grant had been farming in spirit long before he farmed in practice. The move to Niagara in 2008 wasn't a retirement. It was a homecoming, and the beginning of the most demanding chapter of his life.

The Journey

A Career Measured in Decades & Decisions

1960s
Southern Ontario & London
Growing Up on the Land
Raised in Southern Ontario's tobacco farming country, Grant grew up with soil under his boots, a cattle farmer in spirit long before the vineyards. As a teenager he made his way to London, Ontario, absorbing the energy of a province in full postwar bloom. The land always stayed with him.
Southern Ontario · Cattle Farming Roots
Early Career
Toronto, Ontario
Telecommunications Engineering & First Steps in IT
Grant's professional life began with an engineering foundation in Telecommunications, followed by an early career in IT, a field then on the verge of transforming every institution it touched. He was there at the beginning, learning how complex systems worked from the inside.
Telecom Engineering · IT · Toronto
Career Ascent
Ottawa Valley & Toronto
Executive Leadership: Private & Public Sector
Grant moved through a demanding range of executive roles, managing large teams, truck fleets, warehouses, and printing operations at scale. Marriage, three children, and a farm in the Ottawa Valley anchored his personal life during years of professional intensity. He was building in both domains simultaneously.
Operations · Logistics · People Leadership
Graduate Studies
Cambridge, Massachusetts
MSc, Management · MIT
Mid-career, Grant took the step that many executive leaders plan but few execute: he returned to school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, earning an MSc in Management. The degree sharpened a leadership mind already tested by years of real-world complexity.
MIT · MSc Management · Cambridge, MA
Federal Government
Ottawa, Ontario
Assistant Deputy Minister
Grant reached the highest levels of Canada's federal public service, serving as Assistant Deputy Minister, a role at the intersection of policy, operations, and national accountability. He finished his first government career here before taking a new direction entirely.
Federal Government · ADM · Public Policy
Banking
Toronto, Ontario
Executive Vice President · Nine Years
Nine years as Executive Vice President in the financial sector. The scale, discipline, and institutional complexity of Canadian banking provided the final chapter of Grant's corporate career, and the financial platform that would make the vineyard possible.
Banking · Executive VP · 9 Years
The Vineyard
Niagara, Ontario
Co-Founder, Westcott Vineyards · 2006
Grant and Carolyn bought the vineyard in 2006, moved the family to Niagara in 2008, and began building something entirely their own. What started as growing grapes for other wineries became an estate winery, and a destination. A dream turned business plan, turned legacy.
Co-Founder · Niagara · 2006
The Return
Ottawa & Niagara
Associate Deputy Minister · Then Gone for Good
When the federal government called again, Grant answered, serving as Associate Deputy Minister while Carolyn and Garett ran the winery with characteristic grace. Four years later, he left government for the last time. He came home to the vineyard, rolled up his sleeves, and never looked back.
Associate Deputy Minister · Final Chapter

The Academic Chapter

A Mind That Never Stopped Learning

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Choosing to return to school mid-career, to one of the world's most demanding institutions, says something about a person. For Grant, it wasn't a career move so much as a natural expression of intellectual curiosity that has defined every chapter of his life.

The MSc in Management from MIT brought rigour, global perspective, and a framework for thinking about complexity that has shaped the way Westcott Vineyards has been built and grown, from the vineyard to the boardroom, from the barrel to the balance sheet.

Graduate Degree
MSc, Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology · Cambridge, MA
💻
Technology
From his first IT role in Toronto to the digital future of a modern winery, always at the frontier.
🏛
Public Service
Two stints at the federal level, including ADM and Associate Deputy Minister.
🏦
Banking
Nine years as EVP in Canada's financial sector: discipline, scale, and institutional rigour.
🌾
The Land
From cattle farming in his youth to stewardship of two world-class Niagara vineyards.

The Final Bet

The House Was Sold. The Dream Was Real.

After careers that took him from Ontario farmland to MIT to the highest offices of government and banking, Grant made the choice that defines his chapter most clearly: he bought a vineyard with Carolyn, sold the Toronto house, and moved the family to Niagara.

There was a brief return. The federal government came calling one more time with the Associate Deputy Minister role, and Grant served with the same commitment he had brought to every institution before it. But Carolyn and Garett held the vineyard together, and when it was time to leave, there was no hesitation.

"He left the government after four years. He came home to the vineyard, and never looked back."

— The Westcott Story
2006
Vineyard Founded
The year Grant and Carolyn committed to the land in Niagara.
2008
Family Moves to Niagara
Toronto sold. Blundstones on. A new chapter begins.
2012
First Vintage
Made in the equipment barn. Garagiste style. No apologies.
Today
Never Looked Back
Back full-time at Westcott. Home, exactly where he should be.
Westcott Vineyards — Grant and Carolyn Hurst

"As much work as it's been so far, we're really just getting started."

— Grant Westcott & Carolyn Hurst, Co-Founders · Westcott Vineyards

Beyond the Winery

The Man Behind the Operation

The same patience and long-view thinking Grant brings to the winery shows up in everything else he does.

🥳
Woodworking

In the workshop, Grant finds the same satisfaction he finds in the vineyard: patient craft, honest materials, and work that endures. The barn aesthetic at Westcott feels personal for a reason.

📚
Reading & History

A lifelong reader with a particular passion for history. The long view has always informed how Grant builds things. Institutions, teams, vineyards.

✈️
Travel

From international wine regions to far-flung corners of the world, Grant and Carolyn's travel has sharpened their palates and broadened their vision for what Westcott can be.

💻
Technology

An early career in IT left a permanent imprint. Grant keeps a close eye on technology's role in the winery, from production systems to how the world discovers and buys wine.

Westcott Vineyards · Jordan, Ontario

Come Meet the Family Behind the Wine

Book a tasting in our restored heritage barn, look out over the vineyards Grant and Carolyn built from a dream, and raise a glass to a life fully committed to something real.

Plan Your Visit Meet the Team
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