(CNBC) - For the inexperienced, selecting a bottle of wine can be intimidating; but learn how to properly read a label, and even a novice has a shot at making a pick like a pro.

"Most people don't realize this, but there's more information on the outside of the bottle than on the inside," Joe Bastianich said.

The author of two books about Italian wine, Bastianich is a James Beard award-winning Wine and Spirits professional. A restaurateur with his foot in 30 restaurants, he's an investor on CNBC's "Restaurant Startup."

The sticker on bottles can vary greatly, especially from country to country. Yet, Bastianich gives a few tips about how to decode a label to select a good wine.

 Variety or region: What's in a name?

A wine's name can say a lot about the type that's inside the bottle. Barolo is a red wine made from the nebbiolo grape variety. It's named after a locality in the Piedmont region of Italy where the grapes grow and the wine is made.

Unlike most American wine labels, a bottle of Barolo won't likely list the grape's name, which is also known as the variety.

 "In America, we name our wines after the varietal generally," he said. "So like, cabernet, sauvignon, merlot, sauvignon blanc. In Italy, it's principally geographically."

Appellation: The rules and regulations of wine

A wine's taste is all about place, so appellation can be the most important concept on a label, according to Bastianich. It refers to a legally defined geographic designation of origin; so it describes where the grapes that make up a wine grow.