Katya Vineyards is owned and run by Executive Chef Tony Deras and his wife Katya — the winery's namesake. A kitchen built on love, a cellar built on Florida grapes, and a dining room built for Ocala.
The vineyard was planted among Ocala’s horse farms in 2010 by Katya’s parents, and the tasting room opened on the historic downtown square in 2017. Today the house belongs to the two people who embody each half of it: Tony in the kitchen, Katya in the cellar and at the door.
Together they’ve carried Katya Vineyards from local favorite to a Florida Winery of the Year with a Golden Spoon, Wine Spectator honors, and one of the World’s Best Wine Lists.
Executive Chef · Owner
Born and raised in Honduras, Chef Tony entered the culinary world for a paycheck and stayed for the art. He fell in love with watching creations take shape — and realized a plate was more than a meal: it was an expression of love, an experience. His first year in Ocala earned four Best of the Best awards, including Best New Restaurant, and his kitchen has been decorated ever since.
Owner · The Namesake
A Florida State–trained ballerina who danced her way through New York, London, China, and Hong Kong before coming home to the vineyard that carries her name. She apprenticed in the winemaking from the ground up — ask her what that means and she’ll tell you, “I am excellent at scrubbing the tanks!” The falcon on our label is her family’s old mark, and she keeps its story alive in every bottle.
In the fall of 2010, Drs. David and Patricia Sokol went looking for a second act and found it in viniculture. David had carried a lifelong passion for cultivating vines; Patricia — all of five feet tall, and the family’s great cook — brought generations of recipes to the table. Together with their daughter Katherine, they dove head-first into the adventure of planting Blanc du Bois and Lenoir among Ocala’s horse farms.
They gave the winery their daughter’s name and their family’s emblem. Sokol is Slavic for falcon — a bird of speed, strength and courage — and it has been on every label since. What they started as a family experiment is now a Florida Winery of the Year, and the generation they raised in it is still pouring.
Chef Tony and Katya welcome you to their home away from home. What opened in 2017 as a family venture alongside Katya’s parents — Dr. Wine and Mama Sokol — grew into the establishment it is today through much love and a great deal of wine tasting.
Our home on the downtown square holds a special place in their hearts: it is where Chef Tony and Katya fell in love, their first kiss at the end of this very bar. Now married with two small children, the legacy continues. Welcome to our family.
Come meet them at the bar — Tony sends the plates, Katya pours the story. Na Zdravie!