Deciphering a wine bottle’s label can be complicated for the average consumer. The name of the wine is usually the letters in the biggest type on a label. There is also the name of the region, name of the producer, information on vintages and bottling, alcoholic strength, and quality designations. The back label contains useful production information that was not included on the front. Also we can pick up certain clues by studying the shape and color of bottles.

The best-known material for containing fragile wine is inert glass. No other materials are suitable for keeping wine for more than just a few months. The standard bottle capacity is 27 fl oz (75 cl). Consumers are usually charged a premium for any size or shape other than the standard, because the bottling technology costs more. Some wine scientists believe that in a smaller bottle size the fairly high ratio of air to wine can accelerate the aging process, which does not benefit the wine.

The two basic red wine bottle shapes are the narrow, high-shouldered "Bordeaux bottle" and the wider, sloping-shouldered "Burgundy bottle." In general wines sold in Bordeaux style bottles are from the Bordeaux region of France or are made from Cabernet and Merlot grapes or simply sharing red Bordeaux characteristics of being tannic and not very full-bodied (such as some of the red wines of Portugal and Italy). Red wines in Burgundy bottles are typically from Burgundy, made from Pinot Noir grapes, or softer and perhaps more full-bodied than average.

Red Bordeaux producers are often using darker glass because these wines are made to be long term and because of the potential damage by light. Burgundy is traditionally bottled in a pale green glass, acknowledging that red Burgundy doesn’t need to be kept as long as red Bordeaux.

There are three basic white wine shapes: the Bordeaux and Burgundy bottles and a taller, slimmer shape for more aromatic, lighter-bodied German wines, and wines generally made from Riesling grapes. Brown glass signifies a heavier wine from the Rhine region of Germany. The Bordeaux shape is used for white Bordeaux, where clear glass is usually for sweet wines and green glass is for dry. The standard white Burgundy bottle made of light greenish-yellow glass is used for all sorts of white wines, including a wide range of Chardonnay, Sauvignon and Semillon.