Microbial production of different alipathic esters with flavour characteristic has been studied. Lyophilized whole cells of Rhizopus oryzae CBS 112-07 were found to be particularly suitable to catalyse the synthesis of different flavour esters (hexyl acetate, propionate, butyrate, caprylate; geranyl acetate, propionate, butyrate and 2- and 3-methylbutyl acetate, butyrate) in n-heptane. This strain was therefore utilized for the semipreparative production of geranyl butyrate by semicontinous and continous addition of the substrates with satisfactory yields (144 g l−1 in 264 h and 142 g l−1 in 48 h respectively).