A sneak peek inside the gates of Vinoski Winery
The castle sits at the top of a quarter-mile driveway and offers stunning 360-degree views. It boasts 34 rooms, including a 2,200 square-foot master bedroom suite and a 1,100 square-foot office. The breakdown of rooms includes 14 bathrooms, eight bedrooms, three living rooms, a dining room, kitchen, library, three service rooms, a gym, sauna and a secret room.
Known as the “Tuxedo Room” because of its black and white decor, private parties, showers and wine tastings have been held here. This was originally the home’s first floor family room and multimedia center.
Vinoski’s merlot boasts fruity flavors of black cherries and pomegranates and hints of medium roast coffee and herbal pepper.
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The tasting bar on the ground floor, in what was initially the castle’s lower-level game room. This is the original bar from the home, though carpet on the floor was removed and replaced with tile.
The sprawling mansion at 333 Castle Drive in Rostraver has been making news since last year, when winemaker and Ruffs Dale residents Walt Vinoski and his wife, Roxanne, purchased it in a sheriff’s sale and began working to turn it into a winery.
Vinoski was no stranger to winemaking, having done it the majority of his life. His last name translates to “son of winemaker,” and the couple helped open Greendance Winery in Mt. Pleasant in 2007 (they recently sold their share).
And, the Vinoskis were no stranger to the Lustig estate, either. It was constructed between 1992-1994 to look like a castle. Vinoski recalls talking to a neighbor about turning his hobby into something more lucrative.
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Vinoski’s Sparkling Brut is a semi-dry sparkling wine that has hints of green apple, apricot and tropical fruit.
“She asked if there was any property that I thought could work,” Vinoski says. “And I said, ‘You know, there’s this big grey-blue castle down in Rostraver.’ I had never been there, but the site looked like it would work. I don’t even know why I thought of it. It had probably been 10 to 15 years since I had driven by. But about a month later, I get a text message that said, ‘Hey, that property you like is in foreclosure.'”
Things moved quickly, thanks in part to wine that the Vinoskis already had in production. “Our private-label wine that we had been making, probably three years earlier, I could open the doors with,” Vinoski says. “They’re premium wines, wines that you could cellar for 30 years if you wanted, so it’s a higher-end market. That’s not really the bulk of wine sales, but it allowed us to open the door and get started.”
He’s working on some “nice table wines” that will have a lower price point of around $20 per bottle.
And while it is about the wine, it’s also about community for the Vinoskis. “It’s nice to have people come out, relax and enjoy themselves, meet neighbors, and bring the community together,” he says.
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A swimming pool was filled in to make room for an expansive outdoor patio that features ample seating for tastings and events.
The grounds have a baseball field (former owner Jay Lustig was once a minority owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates), soccer field, putting green and some fairways. Vinoski says that some baseball and softball leagues approached him about playing on the property.
“We’re trying to see if we can work together and help bring the community out,” he says of the requests. “There’s a lot of different things here that I think people will enjoy.”
Weddings, showers and corporate meetings/retreats are currently being booked. “We’re slowly moving into that. We want to do it right, make sure people have a really good time and everything comes off first class and people are happy,” Vinoski says. “We want it to be a great experience for everybody.”