“Who needs textbooks when you have maps!?” Learning from a professional sommelier at SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP’s Wine Club | Club Activity Report

Hello, everyone! I’m Warashina, president of SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP’s Wine Club.

We’re excited to announce that a new Wine Club has been launched at SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP!

I’ve always enjoyed drinking wine, but when asked questions like “What kind of land does this wine come from?” or “How do different grape varieties differ?” I realized there’s still so much I don’t know.

If you’re going to drink wine, it’s definitely more fun to really understand it!

With that in mind, I gathered wine enthusiasts from across the company, along with members eager to learn, and launched the Wine Club this term.

For our memorable first session, we welcomed a professional sommelier as our instructor and held a wine seminar themed “Let’s drink wine while looking at maps.”

Today, I’m pleased to share a report on how it went!

What are SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP’s “Club Activities”?

The “Club Activity Support” program is one of the unique employee benefits included in SUNNY SIDE UP GROUP’s “32 Benefits.” With the goal of promoting communication among members and enhancing group synergy, it supports the establishment and continuation of club activities that match members’ various hobbies and interests, regardless of whether they are outdoor or indoor activities.

However, as PR professionals, our mission extends to information dissemination. As you can see in this article, members of each club activity freely share their experiences on our group’s owned media platform, SUNNY DAYS.

A luxurious start! Sommelier Hozumi Iwai as our instructor

Our instructor for this session was sommelier Hozumi Iwai.

Iwai gained experience at wine bars and high-end restaurants in Tokyo, serving for many years as chef sommelier at “L’Alliance” in Kagurazaka. After working as a restaurant manager and importer consultant, he opened the wine shop “Shumidoba” in Tokyo in 2016.

In 2021, he relocated to Nagano Prefecture. The following year, he launched “iwai-wines,” acquired his own vineyard, and opened “Yudazaka Iwaido Saketen.”

As an AWMB-certified Austrian Wine Ambassador and J.S.A.-certified sommelier, he also serves as an instructor at Académie du Vin and Vinoteras Wine School—a true professional who knows wine from every angle: drinking it, selling it, teaching it, and even growing the grapes.

Having Iwai as our instructor from the very first session was quite a luxurious start!

The foundation of wine starts with “maps”!

The theme for this session was “Let’s drink wine while looking at maps.”

The phrase displayed on Iwai’s materials was:

“GOOD WINES, GOOD FRIENDS, AND A LITTLE KNOWLEDGE”

And what appeared at the start of the seminar wasn’t a wine list—it was a world map!

First, we confirmed on the map where wine is produced around the world.From there, Iwai taught us the fundamentals of understanding wine, starting with the concept of “terroir,” and covering climate, soil, grape varieties, and classification systems.

The taste of wine isn’t determined solely by the grape variety.The climate and soil of the land, elevation, wind, rivers, topography—all these elements come together to create the unique flavor profile of each region.

“This region looks cold.”
“Being near the ocean must affect the climate, right?”
“Ah, this slope gets great sunlight!”

As we looked at the maps and thought about these factors, wine—which had seemed intimidating—gradually became more approachable.

Rather than memorizing regions, Iwai taught us the joy of drinking wine while imagining the land it comes from.

Same Chardonnay, completely different!?

The most exciting part of the session was the tasting comparison.

The star of the show was Chardonnay, a representative white wine grape variety.Iwai’s materials explained that even with the same Chardonnay grape, wines from cooler regions tend to have sharper acidity, while those from warmer regions develop a rounder, fuller flavor.

So we actually compared Chablis from northern Burgundy with Mâcon from the south. Honestly, I thought, “If it’s the same Chardonnay, how different could they really be?” But…

They were completely different (laughs).

Chablis has a cool continental climate. Mâcon, on the other hand, while still in Burgundy, is located further south and enjoys warmer weather and more sunlight compared to Chablis.

After seeing these differences on the map and then tasting the wines:

“This one has more acidity!”
“I can’t believe they’re the same grape variety!”
“Ah, now I see how it connects to the map we just looked at!”

Members shared various reactions like these.

Where before we might have simply said “I prefer this one,” we could now begin to understand why we felt that way.That alone greatly expands the enjoyment of wine.

Tasting five varieties—a world tour on a map!

For this session, we compared wines from different regions: Germany’s Mosel, France’s Burgundy and Bordeaux, and Italy’s Veneto.

For example, Germany’s Mosel region grows grapes in a cool climate, taking advantage of the unique environment created by the Mosel River, steep slopes, and slate soil.Bordeaux’s Médoc, on the other hand, is characterized by a maritime climate influenced by the Atlantic Ocean and well-drained gravelly soil.

As a special bonus, we also tasted “Sassaia,” a natural wine from Italy’s Veneto region.

Made from 100% Garganega grapes grown in volcanic basalt soil, we savored this wine alongside stories of the mountain and sea breezes that define the region.

We checked locations on the map, imagined the land, and then actually tasted the wines.Before we knew it, we felt as though we were traveling the world—all from our meeting room.

Deepening what you love also enriches your PR toolkit

What I realized through this seminar is that learning about wine isn’t just about becoming knowledgeable about alcohol.Diving deep into a single bottle of wine connects you to a wide range of topics: climate, agriculture, food culture, history, tourism, and regional identity.

The work of a PR professional also involves looking beyond the product or service itself to understand the culture, society, and passion of the creators behind it, finding points of connection with the world. The curiosity to seek out what you don’t know is also an essential part of a PR professional’s toolkit.

Wine also serves as a catalyst for communication between people.

“What kind of wine do you like?”
“Have you ever been to this region?”

Conversations like these naturally expand into discussions about food, travel, and culture.

Through the Wine Club, I hope we can enjoy what we love while gradually building a toolkit that’s useful in our work as well.

That said, the most important thing is to enjoy drinking delicious wine! (laughs)

Next up: “New World Wines × Junk Food”!

In our first session, we learned about wine through maps and terroir, focusing on Europe.

The theme for our next session, requested by a new graduate member, is “New World Wines × Junk Food”!We’ll venture beyond Europe and explore more free-spirited ways to enjoy wine.

And seminars aren’t the only thing we want to do in the Wine Club.As we head into autumn, we’re planning to actually visit wineries and participate in grape harvesting.In this seminar, we learned how climate, soil, and topography influence the flavor of wine by looking at maps.Next, we want to stand in the vineyards ourselves, see the land with our own eyes, touch the grapes, and experience firsthand the story behind a single bottle of wine.

Grape harvesting is heavily influenced by weather and ripeness, so things often don’t go as planned. We see that as part of the experience—an opportunity to understand what it’s like to make wine while working with nature.

“Learning” through seminars, “savoring” by actually drinking, and “experiencing” by visiting the regions.

That’s the kind of club activity we want to create—one that lets us enjoy wine from every angle.

Wine lovers and those who want to learn about wine are all welcome.Drink, talk, and become just a little more knowledgeable.

The Wine Club is going to have a great time moving forward!

Instructor Profile