Sample award-winning West Virginia wines, micro-brewed beer, Shiitake mushrooms, salsas and honey products, gourmet chocolate and much, much more at Uniquely West Virginia Ninth Annual Wine and Food Festival, Saturday, April 20 from 11 AM to 5 PM and Sunday, April 21 from 12:30 to 4 PM at the Ice House in Berkeley Springs, WV.

The wine and food festival is now a two day event due to its great popularity. 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 19th through 21st, featuring specials countywide all weekend. Saturday’s main event offers the public a chance to taste and take home a variety of fine wines and foods.

West Virginia’s award-winning wineries include Potomac Highland, of Keyser, Forks of Cheat, from Morgantown, and the state’s first and oldest farm winery, Fisher Ridge Wine Company, of Charleston.

The Little Hungary Farm Winery offers their special honey wine (mead) - 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. Newcomer Kenco Farms Winery, from Sutton, offers their own honey wine. 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 award winning wineries offering their wares include Jones Cabin Run Vineyards from Tanner, and the most heavily awarded West Virginia winery in international competition, Daniel Vineyards, from Beckley. West-Whitehill, from Moorefield, is joined by the state’s newest wineries, Lambert’s Vintage Wines and Roane Vineyards, from Weston and Spencer.

Drink a little, eat a little, because there’s a lot to sample. New this year is Ruslyn Confections, from Star City, with candy, glazed popcorn and dog treats. Kenco Farms also offers candy, as well as jams and jellies. C.J. Cobb Soap Company, from Berkeley Springs, makes fine handmade soaps made from the natural spring water that flows in Berkeley Springs.

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, of 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.

Gourmet Central, of Romney, offers a fine selection of herbal vinegars, conserves, preserves, jams, jellies, salsas and sauces. Dark Sauce and Meatball Mix are the products of Dunbar’s Dark Hollow Foods. LaFonte Gourmet Selections offers their Pasta and Muffaletta Sauces, developed to consistent & exacting standards over seven years at LaFonte Cafe in Berkeley Springs.

The spice girls are back. Fire Creek Salsa, from Kenna, has a great selection of salsas and peppers in sauce. Blue Smoke Salsa, from Ansted, offers a wide variety of salsas, BBQ sauce, pepper jellies and hot sauce. (Blue Smoke's proprietor, Robin Hildebrand, was the 2000 WV Entrepreneur of the Year.)

The Shepherdstown Sweet Shop returns, with a delectable selection of baked breads and pastries. Berkeley Springs’ own Wrenwood Herb and Perennial Nursery has a great selection of homegrown plants and herbs, herb mixes and breads.

De Fluri's Fine Chocolates, from Martinsburg, once again offers decadently rich chocolates, featuring their very unique truffles. West Virginia Fruit and Berry, from Bridgeport, presents a wide variety of fruit & berry products, fruit toppings, butters, seedless & juice sweetened.

For something totally different, try strawberry jalapeño 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, of Morgantown.

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.

This year’s festival once again features book signings of “Way Out in West Virginia” by local author, star-gazer and entrepreneur, Jeanne Mozier. A must-have guide to the oddities and wonders of the Mountain State, “Way Out” is a goldmine of witty nuggets including a slightly skewed look at UFOs, mummies, Indian curses, quirky geology and tons more. Mozier will also sign copies of her newly released “Panhandle Paradise,” an insider guide to the uncommon attractions and local communities of West Virginia’s three Eastern Panhandle counties.

Businesses throughout the county join in the Uniquely West Virginia celebration with special sales and events. A Celebration Guide gives all the details on food specials, entertainment and sales.

Uniquely West Virginia is produced by Travel Berkeley Springs, with support from the West Virginia Department of Agriculture and Division of Culture and History. Admission is $2 at the Ice House, corner of Independence and Mercer Streets. For more information call 800-447-8797 or 304-258-9147 or www.berkeleysprings.com.