The Control Boards of the D.O.Ca. Rioja and the D.O. Navarra carry out extensive laboratory tests and tastings on a large number of representative wine samples from each vintage. results are then pooled and an average rating for the whole wine region is calculated and officially announced in the Spring following harvest. This section lists the official average ratings obtained by the vintages of both regions.
One should, however, keep in mind that these ratings are the average for the whole region and that they should be used as general guidelines. In fact, one can often find excellent wines from a vintage that was given a below-average rating.