José Peñín, prolific Spanish journalist and writer, presides over the Grupo Peñín, a company specialized in wine communication and publisher of several specialized publications, such as the Peñín Guide to the Wines of Spain. This guide includes the tastings conducted by the critic and his team, and the wines are scored from 0 to 100 (with 100 being the highest score).
All samples received are tasted from the end of January until June 30 of each year, excluding those received outside these dates. For each region, a tasting period is established in order to systematically taste the wines belonging to each area. The wines are tasted with their labels visible (i.e., they are not blind tastings, where the taster does not know the identity of the wine being evaluated). The wines are tasted by several different tasters in various sessions to ensure maximum fairness and justice in the evaluation.