Volatile profile and differentiation between Albariño wines from different origins

Commercial Albariño wines from different subzones of Certified Brand of Origin ‘Rías Baixas’ (NW Spain) were analysed over four consecutive harvests. The contents of monoterpenes, volatile phenols, alcohols, sulphur compounds, acetates, fatty acids and ethyl esters were determined by gas chromatography (flame ionisation detector and flame photometric detector) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry. These white wines presented high concentrations of free monoterpenes, volatile phenols, acetates, and ethyl esters, while the levels of sulphur compounds, known as default compounds, were very low. All the wines were elaborated from Albariño grapes, but they were produced by different enological practices, such as skin contact and by carrying out malolactic fermentation or not. No significant differences were found between wines from the same subzone and from different vintages. The results obtained, and confirmed by Principal component and linear discriminant analysis, showed a differentiation among these wines as a function of the Galician subzone of origin.