To know when that time has come, in Rioja, grape growers and wineries have the help of the Control Board of the Denomination of Origin (DOQ), which runs through La Rioja, Alava and Navarra. Their team of providers performs some controls ripening grapes to facilitate technical information sector harvest dates based on each location, depending on the evolution of the vineyard. The objective of this sector advisory work, which is "vital", is to achieve that the vines are harvested in the optimal moment. These controls are initiated at the final stage of the crop cycle and end when the collection begins in each area , for which more than 62,000 acres of the QDO Rioja is divided into 20 zones, which are selected on a number of vineyards . According to the surveys carried out to date in the campaign of 2013, the health of the grapes in the whole Appellation is "good", with a very balanced maturation, which seems to indicate that Rioja wines of the harvest 2013 will be very good.