Aruba’s premier seafood restaurant, Aqua Grill, teamed up with the Aruba Trading Company and Duck Pond Cellars to present an evening of exquisite food combined with spectacular wines.
The evening’s hosts Scott & Lisa Jenkins of Duck Pond Cellars, Oregon, welcomed guests to the restaurant’s pavilion, flanked by Manager Shirley Barrow and Aruba Trading Company’s Sales & Marketing Manager for Wines, Beer & Mineral Water, Jorge Curiel, as they all prepared to enjoy Indulgence of the Seven Seas over a bit of bubbly, Duck Pond’s Sparkling Pinot 1996.
The evening’s menu featured outstanding seafood prepared by Aqua Grill’s award-winning Executive Chef Scott Scheuerman. The seven course dinner was nicely paired with seven Duck Pond Cellars wines.
The evening took off with a variety of amuse bouches, accompanied by the 1996 Sparkling Pinot Gris, and continued with Steamed Littlenecks with fennel and dried grape tomatoes escorted by a 2007 Pinot Gris Willamette Valley, and a Scallop Ceviche in a sweet potato muffin with green mango salad, served with a 2007 Riesling, Willamette Valley.
The Grilled Triple Tail Fillet with island spices, West Indian polenta and coconut Creole sauce was accompanied by 2007 Pinot Noir, Willamette Valley, while the Planked Salmon with sesame-soy marinade, baby bok choy and picked butternuts escorted the 2006 Pinot Noir, St. Jory Vineyard.
The Blackened Cobia, with red pepper compote, celery root puree and fried basil, went with the 2006 Syrah from the Dessert Wind Vineyard, and for dessert a progressive Tropical Fruit Trio introduced kumquat and spiced tofu wonton, lulo shooter, peach & almond tiramisu with an outstanding 2005 Semillon, Late Harvest flown in by Federal Express that afternoon.
The charismatic and charming Scott Jenkins and his beautiful Lisa talked to each one of the guests and interacted warmly with diners, answering questions and recounting wine-grower anecdotes.
Duck Pond Cellars was founded in the mid 1980’s, when Doug & Jo-Ann Fries moved from California to Oregon for their retirement. Today, Duck Pond Cellars is owned by the Fries & Jenkins Family, after daughter Lisa married Scott Jenkins.
From vineyard to bottle, everything is still family controlled. Duck Pond Cellars has grown into a premier winery, with vineyards in four areas of the Willamette Valley, Oregon’s premier wine growing region.
Over the past years Oregon has become increasingly popular in the world of wine, primarily for their state of the art Pinot Noirs. Duck Pond grows Pinot Gris, Riesling, Gewürztraminer, Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Sangiovese, Syrah and Cabernet Sauvignon.
Pictured here images from a perfect soirée and a true culinary experience.
