Comparison of odor-active compounds in sherry wines processed from ecologically and conventionally grown Pedro Ximenez grapes.

The aroma of young and biologically aged sherry wines from Pedro Ximenez grape cultivated conventionally and ecologically has been studied. Fifty-five compounds were quantified by GC, and the odor activity values for the 19 odor-active compounds considered were grouped into 8 odorant series, the fruity and fatty series showing the highest OAVs. The OAVs of the eight series were subjected to a principal component analysis. PC1 separated the young wines from the aged wines, also distinguishing the traditional young wines from the ecological young ones, whereas PC2 was effective only in separating the traditional aged Fino wines from the ecologically aged ones. The ecological Fino wines showed lower values than traditional Fino wines for the OAVs of all the series, except for the balsamic and fatty series, the ecologically aged wines showing a sensorial profile similar to that of the traditional Fino but with a lower odor intensity.