Lava Cap Winery is partnering with Rick Kushman of the Sacramento Bee to offer a series of classes on wine.

Kushman is an award winning journalist who’s been nationally syndicated and a weekly commentator on food and wine on Sacramento’s KFBK NewsTalk AM-1530. His popularity as a speaker comes in big part because he makes wine fun, which is surprisingly rare among wine educators and somewhat ironic since people drink wine to have fun.

In Harvest 101 Kushman will focus on the process of harvesting wine grapes. He will begin the class in the vineyard and then move to the crush pad, where the grapes are harvested. Kushman will discuss how the winemaker improves the wine quality through particular harvesting techniques. The class will finish in the winery’s barrel room with wine tastings.

Lava Cap’s popular red and white wines will be featured and sampled, including new releases.

The class will last 90 minutes and begins at 1pm on Sept. 18th at Lava Cap Winery near Placerville. Contact Lava Cap Winery for tickets and information (530) 621.0175 or www.lavacap.com.