Broken Cork in a Wine Bottle? How a Sommelier Gets It Out

If half the cork is still in the neck, put the corkscrew back in at a slight angle, screw it through the remaining piece and pull slowly. If that piece is too dry to hold a screw, slide in the two prongs of an Ah-So and twist it out. If the cork falls into the wine, the wine is not ruined: pour it through a fine strainer into a decanter and serve.

Corks break for three reasons. The cork is old and dry, so it has lost the elasticity that holds a screw. The screw went in only halfway, so it pulls the top off and leaves the bottom behind. Or the cork was pulled at an angle, which snaps it against the side of the neck.

Lever and electric openers make it worse on older bottles: they pull fast and hard, and a dry cork tears instead of sliding out.

Wipe the neck and look at the piece that is left. Put the corkscrew in at about 45 degrees along the side, so the screw bites solid cork instead of the hole from the first try. Turn until the tip almost reaches the bottom of the cork.

Lever slowly, and finish the last part by hand with a gentle twist. If the piece starts to crumble, stop pulling and switch to an Ah-So.

An Ah-So grips the cork from the outside, so it does not need solid cork in the middle. Slide the longer prong down between the cork and the glass first, then the shorter one, rocking gently. Only when both prongs are fully down, twist and lift at the same time.

For very old, crumbling corks, a hybrid opener such as the Durand or the VinoLab Hybrid holds the cork from the inside with a centre screw while the prongs grip the outside.

Do not fight it. Push the rest of the cork in gently, then pour the wine through a fine-mesh strainer, a clean muslin cloth or an unbleached paper coffee filter into a decanter. The pieces of cork do not harm the wine in that short time.

To get the cork out of the empty bottle afterwards, a cork retriever (long wire claws) does the job. With an old red that has sediment, decanting through a strainer is a good idea anyway.

Do not dig at the cork with a knife or a screwdriver: the glass at the lip can chip into the wine. Do not heat the neck. Do not bang the bottle on a wall or a shoe; that trick is for pushing out an intact cork, and it risks breaking the bottle.

Screw the corkscrew in fully, until about one turn of the screw is left above the cork, and pull straight up. For bottles older than about 15 years, start with an Ah-So instead of a corkscrew. For 30 and 40-year-old bottles with dry corks, use a hybrid opener from the start.

Yes. A broken cork, or cork pieces in the glass, does not make a wine "corked". A corked wine has a musty, wet-cardboard smell caused by a compound called TCA, which has nothing to do with how the cork broke. Taste it: if it smells fresh, serve it.