The northern hemisphere is heading into summer which means the pink blush of rosé will become the star of many wine lists in restaurants and bars across Europe, but while rosé has become increasingly popular, Italian winemakers have noted that when it comes to social media, the in-demand drop is woefully under-represented.
The sad state of drink-related emojis
These winemakers are lobbying for a new emoji, pointing out that currently the symbols available on smartphones to denote wine are limited to a glass of red, two clinking Champagne flutes and a bottle of fizz; not a drop of the pink stuff (or the white stuff we make so well here in New Zealand) in sight.
The Consortium for the Protection of Chiaretto di Bardolino, a popular rosé, has presented its case to the Unicode Consortium, the US-based non-profit organisation that oversees the process of choosing and creating emojis.
“If you write to a friend about having a glass of wine on Whatsapp, Instagram or Facebook, you get representations of a glass of red, two flutes of Champagne or a bottle of spumante, but a rosé wine symbol is totally missing,” said Franco Cristoforetti, the president of the consortium.
“This is a legacy of the marginalisation that the world of rosé has suffered for decades and which it continues to have to deal with, notwithstanding the phenomenal global growth in sales of recent years.”
Individuals and companies can suggest new emojis to the Silicon Valley-based Unicode Consortium, where a panel of experts considers them.
The Italian rosé producers have teamed up with a graphic design agency in the northern city of Verona to come up with what they have called the ‘pink wine’ emoji – two glasses of rosé being chinked together in a toast.
They also plan to launch a petition in June, gathering signatures in support of the appeal.
