Beaulieu Vineyards 2003 Chardonnay

This wine label gives a little bit more information than some other brands, but it's still easy to read and understand.

Beaulieu Vineyard & Coastal Estates — The first thing you are made to notice is the producer and their "brand of wine." Beaulieu Vineyard makes five different lines of wine, Coastal Estates being one of them. What this tells you is that the grapes for this wine were grown along the coast in northern California.

Chardonnay — Because this is labeled by the type of grape that it is made with you can immediately tell that it is a new world wine, one from the Americas, Australia or New Zealand. Wines from Europe are generally labeled with the growing region instead.

2003 — The majority of the grapes used in producing this bottle were grown in 2003, but not all wines are labeled with a year. Those without a year are considered to be non-vintage, meaning that grapes from different years went into the wine.

Private Cellars — This indicates that Beaulieu Vineyards produce and bottle their wine without any assistance from other vineyards. Some wine producers will grow the grapes and make the wine but not bottle the wine themselves, instead sending it to another vineyard.

California — Labeling the bottle with the growing region indicates that 95 to 100 percent of the grapes used in making the wine are from that region. In this case it is 100 percent because all the Beaulieu Vineyards are located in California.

Alcohol Content & Volume — This wine has 13.5 percent alcohol by volume. The volume is not listed on the label in this case, which means that it is either on the back label or is imprinted in the bottle itself.