October is Texas Wine Month. Saturday, October 26, visitors and locals will descend on the Mason Square for the Annual Fall Arts & Wine Fest. The fun begins at 11:00 with artisan and wine tasting booths along the sidewalk circling the square and retail treasures inside the buildings. Wine tasting and art sampling combine for a perfect fall afternoon.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the first batch of Mason County wine created by Scott Haupert, Manny Silerio and the late Don Pullum for Sandstone Cellars Winery. Their innovation in the early 2000s cleared the path for Mason to become the boutique wine destination that it is today.
The wine world was saddened at the loss of Don Pullum when he passed away on September 7, 2024, at the age of 67. His interest in growing wine in Texas began before he found his way to Mason. He began by planting Muscat of Alexandria grapes at his home in Houston and made his first wine. He continued planting vines wherever he lived and creating his own wine, even as he forged his career in banking and traveled, learning to appreciate fine wine.
Pullum bought property in Mason County in 1997 and planted his first vineyard, Akashic Vineyard, in 1998. By 2014, Texas Monthly hailed Mason as a “hub for grape growers and wine makers” claiming it was “a distinction that owes much of its success to a friendly, mild-mannered man named Don Pullum.”
He was a mentor to many young winemakers, always willing to share his knowledge and encourage others in the craft. He was a regular speaker at wine symposiums, where his enthusiasm for the future of Texas wine was evident. The Texas Monthly article describes Pullum as an old soul, “warm and inviting, he has an old soul quality that makes you want to enjoy a few glasses of wine while strolling through a Hill Country vineyard sharing stories with him.”
Manny Silerio and Scott Haupert bonded with the old soul and the three of them embarked on a winemaking journey with only one rule: only Mason County grapes. They converted the tiny structure next to Manny and Scott’s restaurant, Santos Taqueria, into a production facility and tasting room, dividing the 600 feet of space carefully to meet TTB regulations.
“We vowed at the beginning to only make wine out of Mason County grapes. Period. Even if it meant staying small,” said Scott. Only grapes grown in our local terroir, the Hickory Sands District, have been used to produce Sandstone Wines since that first bottle, which Scott recalls was predominantly Syrah, with some Grenache, Mourvedre and Primitivo.
Because Sandstone used only Mason County grapes, Mason County was awarded its own appellation. Based on the regulations of the TTB (Alcohol and Tabacco Tax and Trade Bureau), if the grapes are 100 percent from the county and the wine is made and bottled there, then it has its own appellation. Appellations are an international guide to quality that can significantly influence the value and perception of a wine.
“Don was our mentor, neighbor and dear friend. We followed his lead. He was into fusion wines, which is blending varietals that are not normally blended together. For instance, a French, a Spanish, and Italian and a Portuguese wine all together,” Scott said. The Sandstone trio put aside customary blending techniques, changing varietals from one year to the next, depending on the harvest.
“ Don was our mentor, neighbor and dear friend. We followed his lead. He was into fusion wines, which is blending varietals that are not normally blended together. For instance, a French, a Spanish, and Italian and a Portuguese wine all together,” Scott said. Fusion winemaking in Mason during the early 2000s presented a creative challenge. Growers were still discovering the terroir and testing varieties of grapes.
The Sandstone trio put aside customary blending techniques. The blend changed from one year to the next, depending on the harvest. Over the years they have purchased grapes from Akashic, Fawn Ridge, Peter’s Prairie, Pontotoc, Robert Clay, Parr and Drew Tallent. Today most of the grapes are from Tallent Vineyards.
Scott, Manny and Don chose to label Sandstone Cellars wine bottles with Roman numerals instead of names, numbering the wines and including the grape variety names and percentages on the label. They produced several hundred cases of wine per year in their tiny work space behind the tasting room. The latest was XXV. Don led the blending for the first ten years and Manny and Scott have done it for the last decade.
Manny came up with the name Sandstone, “We wanted the name, the art work and the grapes to all be from here.” he said, “The label design was very important to us. We approached Bill Worrell, the world famous artist whose inspiration was pictographs.” Adhering sand to canvas, the Mason-based artist and sculptor created shaman figures. “It fit with Sandstone,” Manny said. After Worrell passed away, they became the keepers of Worrell’s legacy, displaying and selling his art in the retail space at the tasting room.
There have been minor shifts to meet the times over two decades, but the soul of Sandstone Cellars is unchanged. When I asked Scott and Manny what has been the most rewarding thing about the journey they both answered immediately, “That’s easy. Bringing people together. That’s the magic. People coming together from all walks of life with smiles on their faces. That was the idea with the restaurant and later the wine bar.”
Sandstone is home base for locals of all ages, from infants tagging along with their parents to patrons in their 90s sharing wine with friends. “It’s a safe place,” Manny said.
Sandstone Cellars will mark the twenty-year milestone at the annual Hallowine Party Saturday evening, October 26, from 6:00-9:00. Costumes welcome but not required. There will be live music by Matt Zarder and Barbacoa prepared by Santos, Manny’s mom, and her husband. They will offer tastings from bottles of wine in the library and serve up their signature swirls.
In addition the usual variety of wines, the wine bar features a new project, high-alcohol wine-based cocktails. Scott and Manny are experimenting with fortified wines with botanicals, or apertifs. They currently have bench trials underway with nearly 40 local botanicals, including herbs and flowers like purple sage, bee brush and mesquite. The next twenty years promise to be as fun and rewarding as the last at Mason’s original wine bar.
“We vowed at the beginning to only make wine out of Mason County grapes. Period. Even if it meant staying small,” said Scott. Only grapes grown in our local terroir, the Hickory Sands District, have been used to produce Sandstone Wines since that first bottle, which Scott recalls was predominantly Syrah, with some Grenache, Mourvedre and Primitivo. Because Sandstone used only Mason County grapes, Mason County was awarded its own appellation.
There have been minor shifts to meet the times over two decades, but the soul of Sandstone Cellars is unchanged. When I asked Scott and Manny what has been the most rewarding thing about the journey they both answered immediately, “That’s easy. Bringing people together. That’s the magic. People coming together from all walks of life with smiles on their faces. That was the idea with the restaurant and later the wine bar.”
Sandstone Cellars will mark the twenty-year milestone at the annual Hallowine Party Saturday evening, October 26, from 6:00-9:00. Costumes welcome but not required. There will be live music by Matt Zarder and Barbacoa prepared by Santos, Manny’s mom, and her husband. They will offer tastings from old bottles of wine in the library and serve up their signature swirls, wine and wine cocktails.
