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May 1, 2009
Real estate and wine
Givton mixes business, pleasure at Kollel club.
DEENA LEVENSTEIN
Albert Givton's family left Egypt for Israel in 1945. He was five years old at the time and remembers that Egypt prohibited him from taking his toys. And there was no going back: his family was told they could not return.
Now, more than 60 years later, Givton is a successful real estate businessman in Vancouver. He is also an expert on wines – having been involved in almost every wine club and festival in Vancouver in the last 30 years. He spoke about both his two passions at this month's Kollel Business Club April 23. Although he has spoken about wine many times, this was the first time he agreed to speak business.
Givton started his talk with an overview of his life. Following his family's exodus from Egypt, he lived in Jerusalem for about 20 years. He fought – and was injured – in the 1967 war. His family's home was in the former Notre Dame Monastery in Jerusalem, on the border with Jordan. Half of the complex was home to Jews, many of whom were Holocaust survivors, and half was an army station. "So I can say that, in the first 48 hours of the war, while operating a heavy machine gun against the Jordanians, I'm the only soldier in the Israeli army whose mother told him to wear a sweater in the middle of battle. She was in the shelter and I was on the roof."
In 1973, Givton moved to Vancouver and quickly realized two things about Canada. First, the world views Canada as a gigantic warehouse of natural goods. He compared Canada to a big cow that you milk when needed. He also realized that half of the planet's population lives west of here, in Asia. "And this big cow has one little opening and that opening is called Vancouver," said Givton. "And that little opening has mountains, the sea and the U.S. border." It was in this little opening that Givton saw a business opportunity.
Givton believes that luck has always played a big part in his business endeavors. Also, when thinking real estate, Givton is always thinking 10 years ahead.
"Vancouver is one of those places where I have never met a person yet who has bought property in Vancouver, sold while making a lot of money and two to three years later, did not regret it." He said, even if you're moving away, you should seriously consider keeping "a foot in the door," if you might return.
He mentioned the importance of only investing in something you can afford. More than once during his talk, he reminded the audience that everything he said was very subjective and "based on my own struggle in life, my own experience."
Givton was as opinionated about wine as he was about real estate. He said that though the Okanagan Valley is a local treasure, it is about as important to the world as Brazilian maple syrup. He also criticized the province's liquor board, explaining that Canadians pay GST and PST twice on a bottle of wine – once in Ottawa and once in the province – and a third time in a restaurant, adding that the wine isn't even of the highest quality, since bureaucrats choose them.
Regarding Israeli wines, Givton said that, after years of having a "bad rap" because of terrible quality control, some young entrepreneurs started the Yarden winery and, in 1987, the first Israeli wine – a 1985 Cabernet – won first prize at the Bristol Wine Fest. "Since then, Israel hasn't looked back," he said.
Givton pleaded, for the good of the audience, to never buy the cheapest wines. "Because you cannot produce wine under a certain price that's not a vile, acidic, doctored liquid."
For information regarding future Kollel business club events and prices, visit www.communitykollel.org.
Deena Levenstein is a freelance writer from Toronto, Jerusalem and now Vancouver. You can contact her through her blog deenascreations.com.
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