OENEO Closures has been involved in R&D for decades. Its first grand breakthrough occurred in the early 1980's, when it patented the first peroxide washing process, which eliminated the use of chlorine in the treatment of corks, and which has now become the standard in our industry. In the early 1990's, the company also introduced a revolutionary closure Altec, which addressed three major issues in the wine industry: Random oxidation, leakage, and high incidence of taint. The company has now sold more than 4.5 billion Altec since then. In the early 2000's, the company introduced two new closures Evolution and Reference) that addressed the same issues, but which also offered improved permeability or gas exchange, which we know has en effect on how the wine will age over time. This year, it has launched the DIAM closure (protected by the DIAMANT patented process), an apparently similar product, but which has unmeasurable levels of releasable TCA (under 0.5 ng/L), lots after lots, corks after corks. This is another first in the industry. Although many other cork suppliers have been able to lower the level of releasable TCA in their closures, none have achieved this level of security. The DIAM closure will also be available with two different permeability levels in 2005.