YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – With the addition of a winemaking building, Yosteria will finally become what its owner always intended.
The Italian-style wine bar and restaurant on Tuesday received the approval of the city’s Design Review Committee for its proposal to construct two buildings – the winemaking structure and an event center – on its property at 252 Valley St. in the Smoky Hollow neighborhood, near downtown.
Alex Zordich, owner and founder of the business, said he hopes construction will start before the end of the year and will be complete in the spring.
He opened Yosteria at its current location in 2018. The restaurant offers rustic and regional Italian food and wine, including some made by Zordich.
He has been making a small amount of zinfandel wine at the business but has always wanted to expand into a traditional winery.
“That has been the plan since Day One,” he said after the meeting. “We are capped for space now and can only make not even a year’s supply of zinfandel.”
After the winery building is up and running, Zordich will add rosé and barbera wines that will be packaged in bottles, and also a montepulciano that will be served vino sfuso – on draft. That’s a traditional way of serving it in Italy, Zordich said.
The black, rectangular winery building will be in the northeast quadrant of the property, next to the outdoor seating area. It will be 20 feet by 50 feet.
It will have a large garage door so that the winery equipment will be visible to guests in the outdoor seating area. The building will also have space for private dinners and wine tasting events.
Zordich said he recently obtained a manufacturing permit for the property to operate the winery.
The events center pavilion, which will be 20 feet by 40 feet, will be in the southeast quadrant of the property, closer to the street. It will also be a black, rectangular building and will have large, clear garage doors on both sides that will be opened for use during warm months. An outdoor bocce court will be built next to the hall and used for casual play only (no leagues) by guests.
A traditional old trailer on the property that is used for making pizzas will remain in use and in the same location, Zordich said.
The architect for the buildings is Joan Madej of Canfield.
The committee unanimously approved Zordich’s expansion plans.
At Tuesday’s meeting, the panel also approved a proposal to replace an existing 3-foot-by-8-foot back-lit message board sign at Trinity United Methodist Church, 30 W. Front St., downtown, with an LED sign.
The new sign will be the same size as the current sign and will fit into the current metal cabinet, which faces Front Street. It will be able to show full color moving displays, according to Nicole Stanyard of Pennsylvania-based Smart Signs, the contractor.