ILOK WINE TO RETURN TO MARKET THIS AUTUMN

ILOK, Aug 19 (Hina) - This autumn, for the first time after six years, the famous wine of Ilok will appear on the market in bottles bearing a Croatian lable, the director of Ilok's wine factory, Petar Cobankovic, said on Tuesday. After touring the wine factory and cellars in this easternmost Croatian town which is still under UN transitional administration, Cobankovic told reporters that he was satisfied with the condition of the factory and with preparations for a forthcoming grape harvest, due to begin in mid-September. The supervisory board of the regional agricultural company VUPIK, of which the Ilok wine factory is a part, appointed Cobankovic director of the factory on August 11 and dismissed the unlawfully appointed director who had obstructed the process of reintegration of the region into Croatia by denying Croat workers entry into the factory. Cobankovic also held this position before the war. Eighty-two employees continued to work in the factory after it was taken over by the new management. About a hundred employees are still living in exile and they are slowly returning. The factory's wine cellar can hold nine million litres of wine. Reporters visited old wine cellars dating back to the 14th century, with barrels containing wine samples from the time of Counts Odeschalchi. (hina) vm jn 192053 MET aug 97