The produce of the Rhine Valley are bottled in brown glass, making for easy identification. Mosel wines are similarly bottled in green. A subtler packaging distinction is the use of Fass # to indicate cask numbers on Rhine labels and Fuder on Mosels.
The three major types of Rhine wine are 
Rheingau 
Rheinhessen 
& 
RheinPfalz 
Of these, Rheingau is best known, particularly for its incomparable, intense, steely Rieslings, and it is there we will begin.