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<pre>Dear John,
Though I've been following the group for a couple of
months, this is my first contribution and may be is
the right point for me to get into the discussion, as
I have worked as the bottling manager for a wine
producer here in Turkey for years.

Do you believe any wine producer in the world would
insist to use corks granted that their product is
likely to be oxidized into vinegar and still be
useful?

Well I don't. The fact, as you all know is, in the
case of wine the cork provides good protection
provided that it remains moist (the bottle is kept
laid). And the same should be true for olive oil. The
only question might arise from the fact that olive oil
does not contain any water to keep the cork wet.

Still though, I think closing oil bottles with corks
should not be a that bad alternative as oil has a
shelf life of max. 2 years, due to other intrinsic
measures, which is quite short compared to aged wines.
And a period of 2 years might be short enough
(although critical) for the cork to retain its initial
moisture and thus the preserving capabilities.

Regards
Selcuk Gider (TR)

> Fact is that Olive OIl is not a preservative (and
> good EVOO shouldn't
> have any added!!!) so there is always the potential
> for nasties to creep
> in via the cork. Wine just goes to vinegar, which is
> still useful. OO
> goes to "Off" OO for which there are no really
> valuable uses that I know
> of unless you're a masochist and like making your
> own soaps. (Please
> don't shoot me, it was a joke!)
>
> Cheers
> John Attwood
> Tamworth
> (Northern) NSW Au
> (Where it hasn't rained properly for at least 6
> months. Makes for good
> oil yeilds!)


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