“Red wine has an emoji. Champagne has an emoji. Cocktails have several. But one of the world’s trending wine styles – refreshing, vibrant white wine – doesn’t.”
She said 95% of New Zealand’s $2.1 billion wine export industry was of the white variety, with the country best known for its sauvignon blanc, along with pinot gris, chardonnay and a few newer varieties, too.
“I think historically red wine has had greater share of mind. It has been the most planted variety in the world.”
Read said white wine was growing across the world.
“We’re seeing a huge uptake in the love of white wine, particularly in our emerging markets, such as China and South Korea.
“But it’s long established in the UK, the US and Australia, our major export markets, where $1 in $2 spent on sauvignon blanc is from New Zealand, so we do very well.”
New Zealand Winegrowers will launch a petition on May 1 – to coincide with world sauvignon blanc day – to be submitted as part of its application to the US-based Unicode consortium, which creates emojis.
Read said their emoji design met the requirements to be “distinctively different”.
“They need more than just a colour change; it needs to have distinctions,” she explained.
“Our campaign is that to enjoy the gorgeous, refreshing aromatics of white wine, you need a glass that narrows at the top to funnel those gorgeous aromas.
“So our image that we are trying to get across the line is distinctly different from a more open top glass that you would have for a red wine.”
The application will be submitted on July 17.
– RNZ