The timing of the updates depends on when the majority of wines from that region and grape variety are released. Vintage ratings for wines that require less aging in barrel or bottle come out sooner than those for wines such as Brunello or Barolo that require years of aging before release.
In some cases, we may provide a preliminary description of expected quality, indicated by a score range, and NYR, meaning that most of the wines have not yet been released. We update those ratings after we review more of the bottled wines.
In the magazine, you will find vintage charts published with the tasting reports in each issue. In the Jan-Feb issue, we publish a vintage chart wallet card that summarizes the most recent vintages in each region, including the changes that have been made in the past year.
On WineSpectator.com, you can see which charts were most recently updated in the Vintage Charts section of the Wine Ratings channel.
http://www.winespectator.com/wineratings
On the WineRatings+ app, our updates take place automatically and will load when you open the app. You do not need to download or reinstall a new version of the app to obtain the newest vintage ratings.