Kendall-Jackson Petitions for a White Wine Emoji to Match the Red One

For Kendall-Jackson, the existing emoji keyboard is a bit of a buzzkill. 

That's because it includes just one wine emoji—a glass of red. Which is obviously only half of the story, as those who prefer white wine are put in the awkward position of delivering their wine-related text messages with an image of a lesser beverage. 

Kendall-Jackson, the California winery, hopes to correct this travesty by getting a white wine emoji added to the mix. To do so, it drew up—with help from agency The Engine Is Red—an extensively detailed 15-page petition (PDF link) for the Unicode Technical Committee, which decides on such matters, to review. 

Other wine makers have tried this before (Flora Springs and Fetzer have both made proposals and introduced the hashtag #whitewineemoji), but Kendall-Jackson's proposal has the distinction of being the first to be officially accepted for review by the UTC. 

Kendall-Jackson is also putting a creative campaign behind the effort, to hopefully sway the UTC and show the global desire for a white wine emoji. You can download and share "Wanted" posters at whitewineemoji.net.

The UTC will vote to approve or deny the white wine emoji in spring 2019. Some 14 wineries have joined the campaign by uploading their own logos to the whitewineemoji.net site. 

"This campaign is an expression the deep love of wine and wine culture that is shared by Kendall-Jackson and the many wineries we're partnering with," said Chris Denny, co-founder and president of The Engine is Red (which, like the client, is based in Santa Rosa, Calif.). "This is a fun way for them to connect with their tribe, millions of people out there who are craving the white wine emoji." 

"For years, Kendall-Jackson consumers and Chardonnay fans have been reaching out to us and asking, 'Where is the white wine emoji?'" said Maggie Curry, director of marketing for Kendall-Jackson Winery. "This is our chance to do something about it, not just for our fans, but for the global wine community at large."