ST. HELENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards, a family-owned, Napa Valley wine estate, is excited to announce that the campaign it launched in December 2017 to promote the establishment of a White Wine Emoji has been embraced by the global wine community with several petitions – including Flora Springs’ own – to the Unicode Consortium, the body that governs when and how such coding developments and updates occur. It has been over six months since Flora Springs began promoting the creation of the White Wine Emoji via its popular social media channels, which comprise a community of over 100,000 people.
“It’s gratifying to see other wine companies follow our example of making wine fun and relevant with their own petitions and campaigns to establish a White Wine Emoji,” said Nat Komes, General Manager of Flora Springs. “The Unicode Emoji Subcommittee encouraged us to work as a global community on the project, and these additional efforts of wine companies and of course white wine lovers around the world will help us reach the goal Flora Springs sought when we started this movement.”
Flora Springs’ campaign for a White Wine Emoji began in late 2017 when the winery’s social media ambassadors became frustrated that there was no emoji for wine other than a red wine emoji, although there are two beer emojis, a sparkling wine emoji and numerous cocktail emojis. The team decided to launch a campaign directed to its social media followers, using the hashtag #WhiteWineEmoji and linking it to Flora Springs through @florasprings. Subsequently Flora Springs created a white wine emoji graphic, distributed white wine emoji buttons and even developed a special white wine emoji–themed tasting and wine package at its popular tasting room in St. Helena.
The campaign caught on, with hundreds of Flora Springs followers and white wine lovers expressing their desire for a White Wine Emoji. In early May 2018 Flora Springs submitted a 9-page petition to the Unicode Consortium, and also launched a Change.org petition to further boost support for the White Wine Emoji. It was at that point that the Consortium encouraged Flora Springs and the other wine companies that submitted petitions nearly simultaneously to work collaboratively on the project, as opposed to one company taking the lead.
“We are more optimistic than ever that the White Wine Emoji will become a reality, and that white wine lovers will finally have more than one digital wine icon on their smart phones,” said Komes. “As a small winery, we adopted social media early on as a way of personally engaging with our customers, and it’s wonderful to see that the community we built had such an influence on getting the white wine emoji campaign established. We still encourage white wine lovers to sign the Change.org petition. Who knows, maybe there will even be an option for pink wine lovers!”
About Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards
Founded by John and Carrie Komes and Julie (Komes) and Pat Garvey, Flora Springs Winery & Vineyards is located at the base of the Mayacamas Mountains on an estate straddling the Rutherford and St. Helena appellations of Napa Valley. Named after John and Julie’s mother, Flora, and for the natural springs on the winery property, Flora Springs has been a family affair through three generations. As both artisan winemakers and growers, the family is committed to both innovative technology and the traditions of fine winemaking as well as the responsible stewardship of its 350 acres of vineyards. Today, ninety percent of Flora Springs’ red wines are sourced from its organically and sustainably-farmed estate vineyards. More information at www.florasprings.com.
