[Effect of aromatic substances on the quality of wines and spirits]

The influence of technological and other factors such as yeast strain, guidance of fermentation and storage on the quality of Bulgarian wines and wine distillates was investigated with the help of sensory, chemical-analytical and chromatographical methods. The total content of aldehydes, higher alcohols or esters or the total content of volatile components estimated by GC seem to be less suitable as quality index, whereas the ratio of esters to aldehydes and the ratio of isobutanol to isoamyl alcohol are parallel to a good sensory quality. The ester content of wines increases during storage, especially in casks. With wine distillates there is a good correlation between the time of storage and the content of aromatic aldehydes.