By Ariana Gordon
SIX YEARS down the road Warren and Tracy Douglas are not regretting their investment into Pandama Retreat and Winery (Pandama Wines) located Plot 9, Madewini, Soesdyke, Linden Highway

Business has been “very good” Warren Douglas told the Guyana Chronicle. He said he and his wife had built Pandama Wines from scratch with the aim of attracting nature lovers, those who want to get away from City life and for those who just want to spend a nice time with loved ones in a jungle -like atmosphere.
While Pandama Wines is not as developed as they’d like it to be, Warren believes that with time, all of their goals will be achieved.
“What we want to do in the next five years is to continue to satisfy our customers. What we don’t have enough of now is overnight accommodation and we have a lot of people who want to come for bird watching, for camping. We have one cabin that is fully functioning that people can overnight in a family setting.”
Douglas noted that his aim is to create a “self-sustaining environment” for nature lovers. “We want to have more cabins where persons can do everything there – cook, wash, clean and the like,” he said.

Currently, Warren and his wife Tracy prepare dishes and entertain their guests on a daily basis but there are guests who just want some alone time. It is on that basis that the couple intends to enhance the facilities they have available.
“It kind of frees up Tracy and I except for people who want specialised kinds of services. They can come here enjoy the weekend and do their own thing.”
The concept of “glamping”, a combination of the words glamour and camping is new he told this publication.
“We are keying in on that concept– people want to come and enjoy themselves; they don’t want you to do anything for them.”
But even with limited cabins, approximately 25 persons visit Pandama Wines every week. The couple also arranges the location according to requests to host weddings, birthday parties, anniversaries and conferences.
“We have tapped into a unique market, and we have made it affordable enough. Business is doing well; business is very good but not beyond what we expected,” Douglas stated.
He explained that many of the persons who return to Guyana often times prefer an environment that is conducive to relaxing and is not too far away from the City.

Can help
“Small businesses in this environment can help propel the tourism industry to another level. Traditionally what has happened in Guyana is everybody has been Rupununi-bound, Rupununi-focused and Guyana is a whole lot more than the Rupununi because the average tourist cannot really afford to run to Rupununi on a tourism excursion.”
Douglas believes that Pandama has “created a niche” where the discerning traveller and tourist can get away and enjoy an atmosphere conducive to relaxation.
“It is affordable; you can come here for less than US$100, spend a day in nature and taste some wonderful wine that’s award winning.”
Pandama Wines has been well positioned over the years and has received recognition from the Tourism and Manufacturing industry.
“Last year we received two awards not only for the tourism component but also for the wine manufacturing component. People are taking notice of what we are doing and we are excited about what the future holds.”
Douglas explained that on a daily basis, the business has 1000 gallons of wine in hand so that if customers are in need, adequate supplies are available.
“Everything is done here; Tracy designs the labels, we bottle, seal and cork here… we do not have a large manufacturing facility but we do have a streamlined process where we can have 300 to 400 bottles a day.”
One would think that there is a staff compliment that assists the owners with the manufacturing and production of the wine, but it is just Warren and Tracy. Persons are however employed to sterilise bottles.
Under the slogan, ‘wine should be enjoyed and not analysed’ the couple’s varieties of wines are distributed in all major supermarkets.
Asked how long it takes for wine to be produced, Warren replied: “From the time we get the fruits in, from the time it is stable enough to go into the bottle is about six months.” He explained that if 1000 gallons of wine is sold bi-monthly, then 2000 gallons of wine must be replaced.
The prices for the wines start from US$10 (GY$2000) to US$20 (GY$4000) per bottle depending on the specialty and production costs. Fruit wines (Jamoon, Carambola, Auntie Desmond) are sold at US$10 per bottle while bark wines used for libido enhancement are sold at US$15 per bottle. Honey wine however, is the most expensive wine produced and sold by the Douglases. That costs US$20 per bottle
“By any standard it is very affordable,” said Warren proudly as a customer requested a bottle of boulanger wine.

Why Guyana?
Though born in Guyana, Warren migrated as a teenager to the US. He entered the US Navy where he served for a number of years. He married Tracy in 2004 and visited Guyana in 2007 for the ICC Cricket World Cup matches played at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence.
It was Tracy’s first visit to Guyana and there was no doubt that she fell in love with Guyana.
“I have to be very honest and say it really was not my idea to come back to Guyana, I am Guyanese but at that point I wasn’t really ready to come home. We came here in 2007 to visit for World Cup Cricket, and I brought Tracy and our son and we were here on a two-week vacation– that was the plan. Tracy came to Guyana, and started getting these wonderful ideas that she could possibly live here,” he told this publication as he recounted how it all happened.
Tracy, an American by birth out of New York was eager to live in Guyana. She was fascinated by what she saw and began looking for realtors to help her find an ideal location.
“We found this (Pandama) two days before we were scheduled to return to the US,” he said, noting that other locations were examined but none were better suited for what they had in mine.
“In late 2007, early 2008, I actually moved onto the property and it was still very rustic- much jungle. I started to get workers here – to at least get some place safe for me to live. Tracy would come in the interim, back and forth and then eventually in 2008 I felt I had a structure that was safe enough to bring her back.”
Tracy, an artist by profession returned to Guyana in 2008 after which the couple returned to the United States.
“We went back to the states, sold the house, got the children situated in college and then we moved back here permanently in January 2009.”
“What we are doing here is a larger version of what we did for free in America because we love to entertain our friends, serve food and make wine.”
Pandama Retreat and Wines, Warren said, was ideal for him because after his time in the US Navy came to an end on an aircraft carrier fighting for America in wars and conflicts globally “I was ready to live a quiet life and it made a lot of sense that Guyana would be the place to come back to, and here we are.”
In 2012 Pandama Wines received the Tourism & Hospitality Association of Guyana (THAG) President’s Award for “Best New Product” in Guyana. Pandama features wines made from several fruits in Guyana: jamoon, mango, carambola, sorrel, cashew, malacca pear, cherry, soursop, peppers and Aunty Desmond. Pandama Wines are available in Guyana at Bounty Supermarkets, Guyana Marketing Corporation (The Guyana Shop) and DSL Cash & Carry.