France and many of Europe’s other Old World countries label wines with their locations of origin rather than the grape or grapes in the bottle. Here in the U.S. and in most “new world” countries, we bottle our wines by varietal, or the grape variety used. This has understandably led to some confusion on the part of American wine drinkers: Why two different systems?

Labels are meant to help one glean important information about what to expect inside any given package. For wine, there are legal requirements that differ by country, with some of the most important points being the name of the wine, who made it, where the grapes come from, if they were all grown in a particular vintage, how much alcohol by volume the bottle contains, and sulphite or allergy warnings.