Flavour Science: Chapter 21. Differences in Chemical Composition of Aroma among Red Wines of Different Price Category

The aim of this work was to compare the chemical composition of the aroma of three different price categories of Spanish red wines. To achieve this, 116 odorants were quantified in 96 wines. The group of wines with the highest price (25–15€/bottle) presented the highest levels of compounds related to aging: oak aging related compounds, Brett character related odorants, volatile sulfur compounds, and oxidation related aldehydes. On the other hand, low priced wines (<6€/bottle), most of them young wines, were more concentrated in fermentative compounds. Moreover, a principal components analysis allowed separation of low-priced wines from medium- and high-priced samples.