Uniquely West Virginia 
Wine & Food Festival 
To Be Held in Berkeley Springs,
Saturday, April 29, 2000

Sample award-winning West Virginia wines, micro-brewed beer, smoked trout, Shiitake mushrooms, honey and maple products, gourmet chocolate and much, much more at Uniquely West Virginia: Seventh Annual Wine and Food Festival, Saturday, April 29, from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm at the Ice House in Berkeley Springs, WV.

A special preview, Friday night from 6:00 to 9:00, will take place at Tari's Premier Cafe. The Wild Wonderful West Virginia Food and Art Display will take place in Tari's new addition, the Wild Women Gallery.

Selected as one of the Top 100 Events of 1998 by Events Business News and the Special Events Directory, the festival is the centerpiece of Uniquely West Virginia: A Celebration of Wine & Food, Friday through Sunday, April 28 through 30, featuring countywide specials all weekend.

Saturday's main event offers the public a chance to taste and take home a variety of fine wines and foods. Potomac Highland Winery, Keyser, won seven medals in statewide competition in the Fall of '97, including four first place medals and “Best of Show” for their '96 Chancellor. More award winning wines from the state's first and oldest farm winery, Fisher Ridge Wine Company, Charleston, will be on hand, as will the honey wine (mead) of The Little Hungary Farm Winery - unique, not only in WV, but in the world. The fruit wines produced by the octogenarian Hungarian immigrant, Ferenc Androczi, of Buckhannon, are made only with honey and fruit juice. Wine makers Frank and Angela Gift, A.T. Gift & Co. of Harpers Ferry, take pleasure in developing recipes from their line of sweet fruit wines, including an award-winning blackberry wine cake.

Other state wineries offering their wares include award-winning Forks of Cheat, from Morgantown; West-Whitehill, from Moorefield; and the festival's newest addition, Daniel Vineyards, from Beckley.

Drink a little, eat a little, because there's a lot to sample. New this year is LaFonte's Pasta Sauces, developed over seven years at their restaurant in Berkeley Springs. The Shepherdstown Sweet Shop returns, as does Wrenwood Herb and Perennial Nursery. De Fluri's Fine Chocolates, from Martinsburg, offers decadently rich chocolates, featuring their very unique truffles.

Shiitake mushroom logs and supplies, as well as dried mushrooms and sauces, are available from Hardscrabble Enterprises of Franklin. Tari's Premier Cafe satisfies with an assortment of baked goods and Tari's very own West Virginia trout cakes and pepperoni braids. Thistledew Farm, Proctor, presents their special line of honey products, including honey mustard with horseradish and red raspberry honey vinegar, as well as beeswax candles and lip balm. Mouth watering maple syrup products are offered by Indian Water Maple Co. from New Creek. Gourmet Central, Romney, offers a fine selection of herbal vinegars, conserves, and herbs.

For something totally different, try strawberry jalepeno jelly, the latest creation from Cottageville's Spoons & Sweets. Then cool off with micro-brewed beer, including award-winning Blackwater Stout and Appalachian Ale, from West Virginia Brewing Company, from Morgantown.

West Virginia Bread and Butter Pickles are among the many different products offered by Cabins' Mountain Laurel Marketing. Handmade soaps, bath products, and gift baskets will be available from Berkeley Springs’ Bath House Health Center and Shop. The WV Department of Agriculture will be on hand with their traveling display of West Virginia-made products from throughout the mountain state.

Saturday's admission is $1 at the Ice House, corner of Independence and Mercer Streets. For more information, call 800-447-8797 or (304) 258-9147.