How does one extract a broken cork from inside a bottle?

[James_Wright]

the any way one can?

[James_Wright]

.

[Ian_S]

Smash the bottle open. Always works.

Preferably over someone who irks you, while wrestling with them on the Lazy Susan, right?

[Kirk.Grant]

I’ve gone back with a Durand after a cork has broken and it’s work well for me every time. I’d just shift and use the Durand once the cork broke.

I read the OP to be asking what to do when part of the cork has dropped into the wine.

Oh, I missed that part. Thank you for catching that. Then, I’d say I have this little extractor device I bought at a Lowes, it’s a long cable with a push-button on the end. A claw comes out and snatches things…I’ve had success using that a few times also, but depending on the wine & the age I’d assume a coffee filter was the best way to go. Musar is damn-near bullet-proof I’ve tried things with those wines I wouldn’t dare with other wines…and they still come out shining.

[Stephen_Williams]

1. Tightly roll up a thin plastic shopping bag from left to right into a tube shape
2. Insert the closed end of the tube into the bottle as far as it will go while keeping an inch or two of the bag (not just the handles) outside the bottle
3. Invert the bottle in order to get the cork as close to the neck as possible
4. Blow up the plastic bag through the protruding neck while looking to ‘catch’ the cork against the side of the bottle
5. Stand the bottle upright between your ankles, twist the bag a few times which will normally see it wrap itself around the cork and pull out the bag and the cork.

[Victor_Hong]

Wear a red shirt.

[John_Morris]

1. Tightly roll up a thin plastic shopping bag from left to right into a tube shape
2. Insert the closed end of the tube into the bottle as far as it will go while keeping an inch or two of the bag (not just the handles) outside the bottle
3. Invert the bottle in order to get the cork as close to the neck as possible
4. Blow up the plastic bag through the protruding neck while looking to ‘catch’ the cork against the side of the bottle
5. Stand the bottle upright between your ankles, twist the bag a few times which will normally see it wrap itself around the cork and pull out the bag and the cork.

You’re talking about getting it out of an empty bottle, I take it. I think the task at hand is to get it out of a bottle with wine in it.

[Victor_Hong]

Hire a teetotaling anteater. (Not a political comment.)

[Jeremy_C]

1. Tightly roll up a thin plastic shopping bag from left to right into a tube shape
2. Insert the closed end of the tube into the bottle as far as it will go while keeping an inch or two of the bag (not just the handles) outside the bottle
3. Invert the bottle in order to get the cork as close to the neck as possible
4. Blow up the plastic bag through the protruding neck while looking to ‘catch’ the cork against the side of the bottle
5. Stand the bottle upright between your ankles, twist the bag a few times which will normally see it wrap itself around the cork and pull out the bag and the cork.

You’re talking about getting it out of an empty bottle, I take it. I think the task at hand is to get it out of a bottle with wine in it.

Actually, I had decanted the wine via a strainer so the bottle was empty save for the cork remnant. Had I had one of those fancy tools listed earlier in this thread I would have tried that before decanting. But, I think once the bottle is empty the other methods (especially the towel/napkin one) are superior.

[Scott_Brunson]

Smash the bottle open. Always works.

Then use the Durand

[Brian_Tuite]

Alright, folks. I wrongly chose not to use the Durand to remove a cork from a 2006 Musar to decant prior to a tasting today (as an aside, CellarTracker notes seem to suggest that it’s ready to drink without decant, but I didn’t get that impression upon initial taste and elected to decant for a while) and sure enough, the cork broke midway out and I couldn’t get the remnant out so I pushed it in. Now, I’d prefer to replace the wine into the original bottle vs. putting it into another label but I’m not sure there is a good way to get the cork out. I might just bring a strainer, but was wondering if any of you bright minds know of a way to get a cork remnant out of a bottle.

Thanks in advance and cheers,

Jeremy

With one of these…

https://www.amazon.com/ANRANK-Flexible-Grabber-Pickup-Spring/dp/B07PLVG1ZC/ref=asc_df_B07PLVG1ZC/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=344024281175&hvpos=1o6&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16888686018614210438&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032330&hvtargid=pla-759620878316&psc=1&tag=&ref=&adgrpid=69357499375&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvadid=344024281175&hvpos=1o6&hvnetw=g&hvrand=16888686018614210438&hvqmt=&hvdev=t&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9032330&hvtargid=pla-759620878316

[John_Morris]

1. Tightly roll up a thin plastic shopping bag from left to right into a tube shape
2. Insert the closed end of the tube into the bottle as far as it will go while keeping an inch or two of the bag (not just the handles) outside the bottle
3. Invert the bottle in order to get the cork as close to the neck as possible
4. Blow up the plastic bag through the protruding neck while looking to ‘catch’ the cork against the side of the bottle
5. Stand the bottle upright between your ankles, twist the bag a few times which will normally see it wrap itself around the cork and pull out the bag and the cork.

You’re talking about getting it out of an empty bottle, I take it. I think the task at hand is to get it out of a bottle with wine in it.

Actually, I had decanted the wine via a strainer so the bottle was empty save for the cork remnant. Had I had one of those fancy tools listed earlier in this thread I would have tried that before decanting. But, I think once the bottle is empty the other methods (especially the towel/napkin one) are superior.

Everything is much easier once the bottle is empty!

[Jeremy_C]

You’re talking about getting it out of an empty bottle, I take it. I think the task at hand is to get it out of a bottle with wine in it.

Actually, I had decanted the wine via a strainer so the bottle was empty save for the cork remnant. Had I had one of those fancy tools listed earlier in this thread I would have tried that before decanting. But, I think once the bottle is empty the other methods (especially the towel/napkin one) are superior.

Everything is much easier once the bottle is empty!

Yup, agreed. And now I have one of those tools on order for when it happens and I’m not planning on decanting. Although, truly I have such great success with the Durand that I rarely have this happen (which is why I was initially at a loss and requested advice). I was just foolish this time and used a waiter’s friend.

[Sebastian_C]

How to Get a Cork Out of an Empty Wine Bottle

I have done it with a napkin over a dozen times.

[dsimmons]

Sometimes I feel like I come from a different reality than most here but when this happens to me I simply leave the cork in the bottle and pour the wine carefully. Am I alone??

[John_Morris]

Sometimes I feel like I come from a different reality than most here but when this happens to me I simply leave the cork in the bottle and pour the wine carefully. Am I alone??

You exhibit a lack of obsessive compulsiveness. You must not be a true wine geek.

[Wes_Barton]

Sometimes I feel like I come from a different reality than most here but when this happens to me I simply leave the cork in the bottle and pour the wine carefully. Am I alone??

That’s what I’d normally do. If it’s a cork or single big piece, it’s not that big of a deal. The first pour you have to negotiate around the cork trying to dam up the neck. After that it’s not in the way.

If it’s little bits, none of the above works, other than running the wine through a mesh screen. But, all that stuff is floating in the neck of the wine. You can do a sort of flick pour where it all rides out on a wave with about a quarter ounce of wine. Even when the bottom of a cork disintegrates into a thousand bits, this works very well.

If the last bit of cork breaks off, with some good technique and a long sharp worm (or good substitute) you can pierce it and sort of pin it to the side of the neck as you pull it up.

The Durand isn’t going to prevent some of these things happening occasionally (but does greatly reduce how often they happen). You can have all these nifty tools at home, but are you really going to have them everywhere you go, always? Sometimes you have to improvise.

[GregT]

I thought I had posted but I can’t see it. Oh well.

But my question was the same as Don’s - why bother getting the cork out? Once it’s in, it won’t hurt you and if it broke, as Wes said, you can use a tea strainer.

One trick that seems to work is when you have an older wine, before trying to open it, push the cork in about a millimeter, just to break the friction force between the cork and the bottleneck. Then extract normally. That’s worked for me, although I have no way of knowing whether the cork would have come out cleanly or not.

[Jeremy_C]

Sometimes I feel like I come from a different reality than most here but when this happens to me I simply leave the cork in the bottle and pour the wine carefully. Am I alone??

I would have considered that had the cork been whole; in this case, it was a fragment which was “calving” small pieces.

[dsimmons]

Sometimes I feel like I come from a different reality than most here but when this happens to me I simply leave the cork in the bottle and pour the wine carefully. Am I alone??

You exhibit a lack of obsessive compulsiveness. You must not be a true wine geek.

That is what I was afraid of