Bruce Cass, renowned wine educator, author and advocate for the wine industry, died of natural causes in his home in the Sierra Foothills on September 20. He was 68. Cass achieved acclaim as a co-author of “The Oxford Companion to the Wines of North America” in 2000. Early in his career, his love for wine drove him to launch a wine education company, Wine Associates. He taught wine courses at Stanford University of California, where he created the Wine Lab. Cass was also one of the West Coast founders of the bi-coastal Society of Wine Educators.