The Lack of an White Wine Emoji Is Sparking Some Serious Backlash
For wine lovers, it's a sobering omission.
If you're a wine aficionado, you're probably aware that your arsenal of emojis has one glaring oversight: While there's a red wine emoji for when you're enjoying a glass of Pinot Noir or Merlot, there is no white wine emoji. So those who want to capture the crisp perfection of a Sauvignon Blanc on Instagram are out of luck.
"I'm outraged," New York City wine auctioneer Charles Antin told The New York Post. "The lack of a white wine or rosé emoji is our Mueller Report in the wine business. It's the thing everyone is focused on."
Mark Oldman, the author of How to Drink Like a Billionaire, told The Post that he was recently enjoying some Domaine Leflaive Montrachet. "We wanted to Instagram about it and there was no way to do it," he said. "For wine people, if I'm tweeting about a Duckhorn Sauvignon blanc, it's a slap across the face to use a red wine emoji."
Certified sommelier Shana Wall, a contributing editor at Best Life, added: "As a wine lover and person who works the wine world, it's extremely frustrating when you have just sipped on a Pecorino wine from Italy, or a white Burgundy, and you try to post about it and you have to use a red wine emoji. How is it that we have a Champagne emoji, a red wine emoji, a beer emoji… and yet no white wine one? As we move into summer, posting #RoseAllDay while using a red wine emoji is clearly missing the mark!"
But things may just change soon enough. In May 2018, Kendall-Jackson—whose Chardonnay has been a bestseller in America for decades—submitted a proposal to add the white wine emoji to the Unicode Consortium, a nonprofit organization that decides which emojis will be made available for widespread use.
The detailed proposal argues that "the existing wine glass emoji, depicted as a glass of red wine, does not properly represent one of the most popular and widely consumed adult beverages" and notes that "this all-important beverage with ancient beginnings should be properly illustrated in our modern, international language of emoji."
Kendall-Jackson invited fellow wine lovers to join the cause and tweet about the need for a white wine emoji using a "wanted" poster they created.
This Californian winery is petitioning for a white wine emoji! This won't change the world, but it will free you from using the red wine emoji @KJWines https://t.co/8SEBSRhgQc#WineAndLove #PrayForTheWineEmojis #WhiteWineEmoji pic.twitter.com/5sOJYeo1zp
— The Bottle Club (@thebottleclubuk) July 30, 2018
So far, the outcry on social media has been substantial.
#summoningcircle #whitewineemoji 🤞
🍷 🍷🍷 white 🍷
wine
🍷 emoji 🍷🍷 🍷
🍷— Sarah Abbott (@SarahAbbottMW) March 8, 2019
The people have spoken.
OK #unicode, the results are in and they are OVERWHELMING! 90% of respondents think we need a #whitewineemoji! Let's do this thing! @KJWines #KendallJacksonChardonnay pic.twitter.com/GKvDUJH26j
— Mary Russo ☕️ (@MerryMary48) August 9, 2018
Give the people what they want!
Give us a #WhiteWineEmoji please! pic.twitter.com/ZG2CiRdfJw
— Adam Andrew Hayes (@adamhayes900) September 20, 2018
Kendall-Jackson's proposal was officially accepted for review by the Unicode Consortium and the company will have a chance to present their case to a panel of 12 voting members on July 24. But even if it is approved, it could take another two years before the white wine emoji is actually available on smartphones.
Until then, it looks like those of us who appreciate the need for an emoji that celebrates this wonderful beverage will just have to keep whining on. And for more on why it's always a good idea to #RoséAllDay, check out the 80 Amazing Benefits of Wine.
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