Inheritance of grape berry volatile compounds was studied in the half-sib populations of ‘Jingxiu’ 9 ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ and ‘Jingxiu’ 9‘Xiangfei’ during two successive years. Twenty-two volatile compounds were identified via GC–MS. Monoterpenes were detected in the paternal parents ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ and ‘Xiangfei’, which were Muscat grapes, but not in the non-Muscat maternal parent ‘Jingxiu’. Four C6 compounds, five carbonyls and one ester (ethyl acetate) were found in all the parents, 2-ethylhexanol (alcohol) in ‘Jingxiu’ and ‘Muscat of Alexandria’, and hexyl acetate (ester) in ‘Jingxiu’. The paternal effect varied with year, while the inheritance patterns of volatile compounds, except for (Z)-linalool oxide, were stable between years and between populations. Four C6 compounds, five carbonyls, two esters and one alcohol were typical quantitative traits in both half-sib populations in 2 years. Most monoterpenes, including geraniol, a-terpineol and linalool, exhibited continuous variation in the half-sib progenies, but some other monoterpenes, such as (Z)-rose oxide, nerol oxide, nerol, neral, geranial and geranic acid, appeared to segregate into presence or absence in the progenies (1:1). However, (Z)-linalool oxide, behaved as a quantitative trait in the‘Jingxiu’ 9 ‘Muscat of Alexandria’ population, but segregated into presence or absence (1:1) in the‘Jingxiu’ 9 ‘Xiangfei’ population for both years.