ABSTRACT In order to investigate the relationship between sensory and gas chromatographic analysis data, and to establish if particular aroma compounds could be used as Malvazija istarska young wine quality markers, 30 samples of Malvazija istarska young wine were subjected to sensory evaluation and gas chromatographic analysis of aroma compounds. Linear regression and principal component analysis were applied in order to establish the relations between sensory evaluation scores and aroma compound concentrations in corresponding wines. The most important contributors to the characterization and differentiation of wines evaluated with higher sensory evaluation scores were isoamyl acetate, ethyl hexanoate, ethyl octanoate, ethyl decanoate, hexanoic acid, octanoic acid and decanoic acid. On the other hand, wines evaluated with lower sensory evaluation scores were characterized and differentiated by higher amounts of isoamyl alcohol and isobutanol. Mentioned esters and acids were also found to be the most important variables for the classification of these wines according to quality using stepwise linear discriminant analysis (SLDA). The evaluation of the SLDA model was performed by cross‐validation, obtaining an average percentage of correct classification of 100.0%, and of correct prediction of 89.3%. The results of this investigation suggest that above‐mentioned esters, acids and alcohols could be used as markers of Malvazija istarska young wine quality. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Wine aroma is one of the most important parameters responsible for its quality, and hence for consumer acceptance. Sensory evaluation is the most common technique for controlling the organoleptic quality of wine, but it is not always feasible, since it requires specific conditions, and a group of trained expert tasters that can only assess a relatively small number of wine samples for a day. Moreover, the subjectivity of panelists can affect the evaluation in a great measure. The approach proposed in this work suggests the use of a nonsubjective instrumental technique such as gas chromatography for the analysis of volatile aroma compounds as a complementary tool for wine quality control able to predict, confirm or to correct the results of Malvazija istarska young wine sensory evaluation. Although this model is yet far from being practically implemented, information obtained could be used as a starting ground. Moreover, it was assumed that the approach proposed in this work is likely to be applied successfully on the differentiation and classification of other types of wine according to quality.