Thorn Hill Vineyards

09/22/2026

What a fun afternoon in Lisbon! 🇵🇹🥂

Our Thorn Hill Vineyards Travelers of the Vine traded wine glasses for rolling pins and learned how to make one of Portugal’s most famous treats — pastéis de nata!

If you’ve been to Lisbon, you know these wonderful little Portuguese custard tarts are everywhere — crisp, incredibly flaky layers of pastry filled with a rich, creamy egg custard and baked until the tops are beautifully caramelized. They’re one of those things you simply have to eat when you’re in Portugal!

But making them ourselves gave us a whole new appreciation for them. Who knew there were so many secrets behind one little pastry? We even learned that they use a special pastry margarine to help create all of those delicate, flaky layers. Believe me, there is definitely an art to getting them right!

Lots of laughs, lots of flour and plenty of very serious pastry making 😂 — followed by the best part: eating our pastéis de nata warm from the oven! Absolutely delicious.

And because this is a Travelers of the Vine trip, I had one more little surprise waiting for everyone… a mimosa tasting to finish the afternoon! 🥂🍊

Pastries, bubbles, lots of laughter and another wonderful experience together. I’d say we did Lisbon just right! ❤️🇵🇹

09/22/2026

Our Travelers of The Vine - Chardonnay Group, visited a cork farm today. Incredibly interesting! Now off to the cork factory! Our Cabernet Group photos to follow. 😊. Cheers!

09/22/2026

Sintra & Cascais —  Thorn Hill Vineyards
Travelers of the Vine 🇵🇹

What a wonderful day exploring Sintra and Cascais with our Thorn Hill Vineyards Travelers of the Vine!

Sintra was absolutely magical—beautiful architecture, winding streets, incredible views and so much history. And naturally, our group of wine travelers managed to find something interesting to taste along the way! 🍒🍫

We stopped at Bar do Binho – The House of Port, where we tried a fun Portuguese tradition—ginjinha, a cherry liqueur served in a tiny chocolate cup. You sip the cherry liqueur and then eat the cup. Needless to say, this was a very popular discovery with our group!

From Sintra, we continued on to beautiful Cascais and the Portuguese coast, taking in the scenery before heading back to Lisbon.

Travelers of the Vine has always been about much more than wine. It’s about discovering the food, traditions, history and little surprises that make each destination special—and having wonderful people to share them with.

Another beautiful day in Portugal! 🇵🇹🍷

09/20/2026

Thorn Hill Vineyards Library Tasting in Lisbon 🇵🇹🍷

What a remarkable evening for Thorn Hill Vineyards Travelers of the Vine in Lisbon!

We began with sparkling wine on the 10th-floor balcony as the sun set over Lisbon before moving inside for a very special dinner featuring wines from the Thorn Hill library collection.

Winemaker Amy Thorn selected five wines representing different chapters in Thorn Hill’s winemaking history: 2012 Pinot Grigio, 2010 Pinot Noir, 2011 Merlot, 2012 Red Rock Cabernet Sauvignon, and 2007 Petite Sirah.

The 2007 Petite Sirah was particularly special. It was the very first Petite Sirah Amy produced at Thorn Hill Vineyards, made from Napa Valley fruit. Nearly two decades later, opening one of these rare remaining bottles in Lisbon was a real treat—a treasured piece of Thorn Hill history.

As a winemaker, there is something extraordinary about tasting wines I made so many years ago. Each bottle is a time capsule—a chance to revisit a particular vintage, vineyard and moment in Thorn Hill’s history. Sharing these wines again, nearly two decades later and thousands of miles from home, with our Travelers of the Vine made the evening especially meaningful.

We saved the 2007 Petite Sirah for last—the very first Petite Sirah Amy ever produced at Thorn Hill and one of our rare remaining bottles. It was the perfect grand finale to our Thorn Hill library tasting.

And, of course, while in Portugal we had to finish the evening with a Port tasting paired with three desserts—a wonderful final taste of Portugal. 🇵🇹

This is what Travelers of the Vine is all about: experiencing the wines, food and culture of the places we visit while bringing a little piece of Thorn Hill along with us.

A Lisbon sunset, treasured wines from the Thorn Hill cellar, wonderful food and wonderful friends. An evening to remember. Saúde! 🍷🇵🇹

09/20/2026

Travelers of The Vine touring a most famous train station in Porto, Portugal.

09/19/2026

More from our cooking class!

09/19/2026

From the Douro to Porto…and Now Lisbon! 🍷🇵🇹

One last favorite from our time in the Douro — our Travelers of the Vine together in the tunnel at Quinta da Pacheca. After sharing so many photos of the harvest, the working winery, our cooking class and, of course, the wines, I couldn’t leave without sharing this one. ❤️

Today we said goodbye to the Douro and made our way to Porto, where we spent time exploring this beautiful city together. Another wonderful day of discovering Portugal, with plenty of sightseeing, food, wine, laughter and time with friends.

And now we’re back on the road, headed south to Lisbon!

Tonight is one I’ve especially been looking forward to. We’ll host the first of our two private Thorn Hill Vineyards Library Wine Dinners, opening wines I’ve brought from our library specifically to share with our Travelers here in Portugal.

There is something very special about bringing wines I’ve made across the Atlantic and opening them with friends halfway around the world. Tonight our Chardonnay group gets the first taste, and tomorrow we’ll do it all again with our Cabernet Sauvignon group.

Douro ✔️ Porto ✔️ Next stop, Lisbon! 🇵🇹🍷

The adventure continues…

Thorn Hill Vineyards | Travelers of the Vine — Portugal 2026

09/19/2026

Travelers of the Vine Take Over the Kitchen! 👩‍🍳🍷🇵🇹

After our morning exploring the winery at Quinta da Pacheca, it was time for our Travelers of the Vine to trade the wine cellar for the kitchen!

Aprons on, wine poured—and we went to work.

Together we learned to prepare an incredible assortment of Portuguese dishes, including octopus salad, cod with chickpeas, sautéed mushrooms, scrambled eggs with alheira and green asparagus, Trás-os-Montes couscous, tomatoes with fresh cheese and basil, beetroot salad with orange and lime vinaigrette, Padrón peppers and pica-pau.

And because this is Travelers of the Vine, naturally we had wine while we cooked! We tasted the 2023 Pacheca Reserva White along with a Pacheca Reserva Red, a blend of five different grape varieties.

Then came the best part—we sat down together and enjoyed the food we had been learning to prepare. With lunch, we continued exploring the wines of the Douro with a 2023 Douro White and 2025 Douro Red.

And no visit to a historic Douro winery would be complete without Port. We finished our afternoon with a Tawny Port tasting—the perfect ending to a day devoted to the food, wine and traditions of this remarkable region.

But when I look at all these photographs, what I love most is our people. Cooking together, laughing together, sharing wine around the table and experiencing something we couldn’t experience back home.

The wine takes us somewhere new. The people make the memories. ❤️🍷🇵🇹

Thorn Hill Vineyards | Travelers of the Vine — Portugal 2026

09/19/2026

Inside Harvest at Quinta da Pacheca 🍇🍷🇵🇹

Yesterday our Travelers of the Vine had the opportunity to go behind the scenes at Quinta da Pacheca during the most exciting time of the year in the Douro—harvest.

As a winemaker, this was one of my favorite parts of our visit.

We were able to see the winery in action, including an active fermentation and pump-over. There is nothing quite like seeing—and smelling—a fermentation underway and watching the cellar team work with the wine during harvest.

We also saw the traditional foot treading of grapes in the lagares. I love that, alongside modern winemaking techniques, this centuries-old Douro tradition is still very much a part of winemaking here.

From there, we explored the cellar and learned more about Pacheca’s Port production, including their 3,500-liter barrels and the enormous vessels used for aging and storing their Port. Standing beside them really gives you a sense of the scale of the operation.

For me, visiting another winery is never just about tasting the finished wine. I want to see what happens behind the bottle—the fruit coming in, the fermentation, the pump-overs, the equipment, the cellar decisions, the barrels and the traditions that ultimately shape what ends up in our glass.

Experiencing all of that during harvest in the Douro made this visit particularly special.

I loved getting this look inside the working cellar at Quinta da Pacheca. 🍷

Thorn Hill Vineyards | Travelers of the Vine — Portugal 2026

09/19/2026