(Source: Visit Napa Valley)

In the San Francisco Chronicle, Jess Lander and Esther Mobley celebrate the 50th anniversary of Napa’s “class of 1972,” featuring some of the region’s most transformational wineries, including Caymus, Montelena, Silver Oak and Cakebread. “Never before, and never since, has there been such a concentrated surge of influential institutions in the American wine industry.”

In SevenFifty Daily, Betsy Andrews is also marking the 50th anniversary, looking at how the rise of Napa Valley has been shaped by ambition, terroir and money.

Miquel Hudin looks back on the original SOMM film, which debuted 10 years ago. (If you follow this news roundup regularly, you probably know the answer is not well!)

The Wall Street Journal’s Lettie Teague is digging Côtes du Rhône.

Clay Risen pens an obituary for Sean Thackrey, who “dismissed conventional wisdom about varietals, terroir and scientific management and won a cult following in the process,” in the New York Times.

Could truffles be California Wine Country’s next luxury product? Matt Kettman explores in Wine Enthusiast. “…small harvests are now being reported annually in California’s Sonoma and El Dorado counties, and there’s an ongoing attempt to resurrect America’s first black truffle farm in Mendocino County, where the fungus was unearthed in 1987.”

In Wine-Searcher, David Allen looks at how alternative approaches to making Sauvignon Blanc are reaping very different rewards.

On JebDunnuck.com, R.H. Drexel shares highlights from this year’s BottleRock.