Paul Graydon, 

I grew up in South East UK close to London and am married with my wife since 1983 having three children. My ancestral family is from the USA having emigrated to the UK in 1901 from Harrisburg PA coming from a long line of lawyers and authors since the 18th century. Prior to moving to BC I was Vice President and part owner of a small IT Software company in the UK for seventeen years that sold high value printing software. I emigrated to Calgary in 2003 with my family and united with my 57 Canadian relatives. In 2006 the software business was part of a takeover by Pitney Bowes, a large US corporate and I was retained under contract for five years. After gaining from the share sale I invested in several properties in Alberta and BC and became a landlord.

In 2011 I embarked on the WSET wine program in which I reached level 3 advanced. At the same time I incorporated a business called Great Wines of the World and registered an agency in Alberta to import wine from partnerships in Italy, Australia, France and South Africa. This opened the door to the BC wine industry and we established a home in BC to explore the options.

In 2012 we invested in a small winery in Summerland - Saxon Winery, which we grew from an organic ten acre hobby farm into a $300,000 business. A long-standing passion for wine in Europe made this an easy move for us. In 2014 my business partnered the 'wine in aisle' initiative in BC via the Save On Foods network owned by Jim Pattison Group. We eventually sold the vineyard and house in 2021 and subsequently the winery business was closed down as part of an asset sale. I then embarked on a career in Real Estate knowing my value would be in becoming a trusted advisor to our cherished wine and liquor sector. As a winery owner for eleven years and a previous small business owner I have experience in the complexities of brand recognition, liquor marketing, liquor board licensing, ALR land zoning and the day to day to day business management of a winery and a small business. Coming from a marketing background I believe in a bottom up philosophy whereby the value of a single saleable unit of right up to the valuation of a business depends on the perceived market rate for a similar offering.

In that way I can help businesses present a realistic valuation and upside based on a normalized EBITDA , an accurate Cost of Goods Sold to representing the true business value alongside the tangible values in land, buildings and hard assets. I also coach buyers in the complexities of buying a vineyard or winery, distillery or otherwise.