In order to characterise traditional balsamic vinegars from Modena some volatile compounds have been dosed. These substances, responsible for flavour, were extracted after 3 h of stripping with nitrogen and adsorbed by activated charcoal and tenax. The data collected were successively elaborated with multivariate statistical techniques. While linear principal component analysis (LPCA) could not permit an unequivocal differentiation, discriminant method has given a complete discrimination among the various kinds of vinegars.