The production of pyruvate and acetaldehyde by 10 strains of Saccharomyces cerevisiae was monitored during the fermentation of Vitis vinifera L. variety Tempranillo grape must to determine how these compounds might influence the formation of the pyroanthocyanins vitisin A and B (malvidin-3-O-glucoside-pyruvate acid and malvidin-3-O-glucoside-4 vinyl, respectively). Pyruvate and acetaldehyde production patterns were determined for each strain. Pyruvate production reached a maximum on day four of fermentation, while acetaldehyde production was at its peak in the final stages. The correlation between pyruvate production and vitisin A formation was especially strong (R  2 = 0.80) on day 4, when the greatest quantity of pyruvate was found in the medium. The correlation between acetaldehyde production and the formation of vitisin B was strongest (R  2 = 0.81) at the end of fermentation when the acetaldehyde content of the medium was at its highest. Identification and quantification experiments were performed by HPLC-DAD. The identification of the vitisins was confirmed by LC/ESI-MS. Keywords: Saccharomyces cerevisiae; vitisin A; vitisin B; acetaldehyde; pyruvate; HPLC-DAD; red wines; anthocyanins