Chasselas is an emblematic white grape variety of the Swiss wine landscape. The produced wines are often fruity and floral when young, and in some cases have the ability to develop a qualitative bouquet after several years of aging in the bottle. To date, very little research has been done on the ageing bouquet of Chasselas and the information available is generally empirical. It is therefore important to understand which substances are present in wines of different ages and, more importantly, which of these have an influence on the aroma and the ageing bouquet. This study therefore examined Chasselas wines of different vintages (2003-2022) from the same estates with the aim of improving our knowledge of the impact of bottle ageing on the aromas of these wines. Therefore, an analysis of volatile aroma compounds with gas chromatography mass spectrometry, olfactometric investigation of aroma active compounds and wine tastings were performed. Specific aroma compounds were found to be present only in old or young wines, such as Furfural (bready note) and Isoamyl acetate (fruity, banana note). Others were found to degrade with age, such as 3-ethoxy-1-propanol. The olfactometric analyses showed that the younger wines tended to be fruity and fresh and the older wines contained more full-bodied notes. Another question was to determine the volatile markers that characterize a good vintage from a bad one. The results of volatile compound analyses cannot confirm or invalidate the sensory analysis data. Many other sensory parameters contribute to characterizing the quality of a wine.
