NZ takes up fight for a white wine emoji
THE US failed in their bid for a white wine emoji, but maybe New Zealand will have better luck.
New Zealand Winegrowers is throwing its weight behind a petition requesting the Unicode Consortium, the body approving new emoji on phones, to add the ‘‘long missing’’ white wine symbol.
A glass of red, two clinking champagne flutes, and a bottle of fizz are currently the only symbols available on devices to denote wine.
New Zealand white wine makes up 93 per cent of its global exports, New Zealand Winegrowers general manager Charlotte Read said.
‘‘We hope that by requesting the white wine emoji it will shine a spotlight on the breadth of highquality white wine that New Zealand produces, as well securing the emoji that has long been missing from the keyboards of digital devices since their creation in the late 1990s,’’ Read said.
A movement emerged to get a specific white wine emoji in 2019 with California-base winery KendallJackson submitting a 19-page proposal for review by authorities.
But the proposal failed to get approval, the Unicode Consortium that counts Google, Facebook, Microsoft and IBM executives among its board members said they will ‘‘continue to consider emoji for future addition’’.
NZ Winegrowers marketing committee member and Te
Whare Ra co-owner and winemaker Anna Flowerday said it made sense for New Zealand to adopt the cause.
‘‘It was great timing with our ‘Pour Yourself a Glass of New Zealand’ theme focus next month. Three of our white wines have their wine day in May, so it was just a right time to push for it again,’’ she said.
‘‘I am hoping maybe we would get behind it because it’s a country organisation presenting it, and obviously we’ve got a strong case given that New Zealand produces the majority of white wines.’’
International Sauvignon
Blanc Day is celebrated on May 6, International Pinot Gris Day on May 17 and International Chardonnay Day will be held on May 26.
Flowerday said she was hoping other global producers would get on board.
‘‘It’s a little thing, but it’s a big thing. When I think of how often I would tag something, and I just automatically use the red wine glass because there isn’t a white wine one. And when you look at all the other emojis that there are for different foods, so if there’s a red wine one, it’s weird that there is not a white wine one.’’
‘I can understand why the red wine emoji was the first distinctive image, but the use of emojis makes the need for more representation.’ JACOB ANDERSON
Individuals and companies can suggest new emojis to the California’s Silicon Valley-based Unicode Consortium. The last batch of 37 new emojis were approved in September 2021 including a melting face, a face with a peeking eye, a low battery and a disco ball.
Scotch Wine Bar and Restaurant owner Jacob Anderson and sommelier Arthur Griffoul support the petition.
‘‘I can understand why the red wine emoji was the first most distinctive image, but the use of emojis makes the need for more representation,’’ said Anderson.
Awarded best wine experience by Cuisine and Food Magazine this year, Scotch Wine Bar and Restaurant finds reds and whites are ‘‘pretty split in terms of popularity’’, Anderson said. ‘‘There is some seasonal shift. I would say obviously more towards whites, [which are] probably a slightly bigger seller.’’
Griffoul said he remembered when a skin tone variation was added to the existing yellow faces.
‘‘Now you can have super white, tanned, darker... Those different tones of colour came up, and it didn’t seem to be such a deal. So surely, it’s easy enough that you can have a white wine emoji and who knows in the future like orange or rose´ wine, especially.’’
A plea for a glass of rose´ emoji came up from Italy last year.
The Consortium for the Protection of Chiaretto di Bardolino, a popular italian rose´ , has presented its case to the Unicode Consortium, arguing that the absence of a symbol representing a glass of rose´ was discriminatory.
While waiting to see what happens for the rose´ , New Zealand Winegrowers will be running its petition for the white wine until the end of May.