Abstract:To investigate the metabolic differences between yellow peach and honey peach wines and their effects on flavor formation, volatile metabolites in peach-based fermented wines were analyzed using Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), followed by differential analysis. Functional associations and flavor contributions were evaluated through Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis and relative odor activity value (ROAV). The results showed that 146 significantly different metabolites were identified between the two peach wine varieties, with 25 upregulated and 121 downregulated metabolites in honey peach wine relative to yellow peach wine. Esters such as ethyl acetate and ethyl phenylacetate showed significantly higher abundances in yellow peach wines, while short-chain esters and terpenoids were more enriched in honey peach wines. KEGG enrichment analysis indicated that butanoate metabolism and riboflavin metabolism were key differential pathways.ROAV analysis identified 13 and 15 key flavor compounds with ROAV > 1 in yellow and honey peach wines, respectively. Ethyl acetate contributed significantly more to the flavor profile of yellow peach wine (82.45) compared to honey peach wine (18.26).