About Sue-Ann Staff

Sue-Ann Staff | Niagara Winemaker & Founder of Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery

Sue-Ann Staff is an award-winning Canadian winemaker, fifth-generation Niagara grape grower, and founder of Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery in Jordan, Ontario, located in the heart of the Niagara Benchlands wine region.

Raised in a family with more than 100 years of grape-growing history in the Niagara Peninsula — including two “Grape King” titles — Sue-Ann developed a passion for viticulture and winemaking at an early age. Today, she is recognized as one of Ontario’s leading female winemakers and a respected ambassador for Canadian wine and Niagara wine country.

Sue-Ann studied winemaking at the renowned Roseworthy College, University of Adelaide in South Australia, and gained international experience through multiple harvests abroad before returning to Niagara. During her career, she has earned more than 600 national and international wine awards and was named Ontario Wine Awards “Winemaker of the Year” in 2002 — becoming the first woman and youngest recipient ever to receive the honour.

She was also recognized twice as one of the world’s top four “Women in Wine” by the International Wine & Spirit Competition in London, England, while serving as Winemaster at Pillitteri Estates Winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Today, Sue-Ann is Proprietor and Winemaker of Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery, situated on her family’s 200-year-old estate on the Niagara Escarpment in Jordan, Ontario. The winery produces premium VQA wines crafted from estate-grown Niagara grapes, including Riesling, Cabernet Franc, sparkling wines, rosé, and Icewine. Her winemaking style is known for balancing bold character with elegance, reflecting the unique terroir of the Niagara Benchlands.

Sue-Ann Staff Estate Winery received the 2018 Tony Aspler Cuvée Award of Excellence for being “an articulate ambassador for the Ontario wine region on the international stage,” as well as the 2014 Niagara Entrepreneur of the Year Emerging Business Award.

"The Tony Aspler Cuvée Award of Excellence, presented to the individual or institution that best furthers the aims and aspirations of Ontario’s wine industry, was awarded to Sue-Ann Staff. She is a fifth-generation Niagara grape grower and internationally recognized winemaker who has won some of the most respected wine competitions in the world. Staff worked for several Niagara wineries before creating her own eponymous facility, and Tony Aspler said she has since become an “articulate ambassador for the Ontario wine region on the international stage.” Brock News

In 2025, Sue-Ann was honoured with the King Charles III Coronation Medal in recognition of her outstanding contributions to the Niagara community, Ontario wine industry, tourism, and regional economic development.

Beyond the winery, Sue-Ann has played leadership roles across numerous wine, tourism, and agricultural organizations, including the Twenty Valley Tourism Association, Tourism Partnership of Niagara, Craft Wineries of Ontario, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre, and Niagara College’s Viticulture Technician Program Advisory Committee.

She is also a founding partner of Niagara Benchlands Wineries Inc., helping unite and promote more than 35 wineries across West Niagara and the Niagara Escarpment wine region.