# How to get a stuck cork out of a wine bottle...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 2, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394 "2003-12-02T02:11:26Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/1 "2003-12-02T02:11:26Z")
Help! I have the corkscrew in, but no matter how much I twist and pull and lean the damn thing won’t budge, not at all. Are there any tricks to getting a cork out of a bottle?
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### Author:  [@That\_Insufferable\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/That_Insufferable_Jerk)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/2 "2003-12-02T02:15:35Z")
I got here first so… push it in.
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### Author:  [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/3 "2003-12-02T02:20:58Z")
Well, there’s a device called an [Ah-So](http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodde.asp?SKU=159683) (yeesh, who was on their naming committee?) that works pretty well. Or you could push the cork into the bottle and fish it out with a [cork retriever](http://www.corkscrewstore.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=corkscrewstore&Product_Code=1030). If you need to get it out _right now_, though I can’t help you. Sorry.
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### Author:  [@Mikemike2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikemike2)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/4 "2003-12-02T02:21:24Z")
If the cork is that tight it sounds like wine leaked down the side of the cork and then dried. If that is the situation the cork will probably break or crumble when the cork comes out. It will come out if you use enough pressure. Try the wine then. If it tastes good, then great. You may have to scoop out some piece of cork though. If it tastes like vinegar or skunky, the wine has been damamged by a poor cork
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### Author:  [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/5 "2003-12-02T06:49:26Z")
Hrm. That happened to my dad once. He used the end of a wooden spoon to push it in, and since he’d already mangled it with a corkscrew, he had to pour it through a strainer. That wine was okay, but as everyone’s saying, you might want to check it first.
I can’t recall how he got the cork out afterwards. (He makes his own wine and wanted to refill it). I think he managed to break it into small pieces somehow.
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### Author:  [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 8:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/6 "2003-12-02T08:55:16Z")
Pour hot water around the neck of the bottle, causing the glass to expand a little, making it esier to pull out the cork.
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### Author:  [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/7 "2003-12-02T12:20:15Z")
thanks for all the replies. I managed to get it out (I unscrewed the corkscrew, then reinserted in a slightly different spot).
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### Author:  [@SeekingTruth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeekingTruth)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/8 "2003-12-02T12:38:40Z")
was this corkscrew the “T”-type? We have one of the “wing” kind that you rest on the opening, screw 'er in, then push the arms down. Never had a problem. Then again, we drink approximately one bottle a year, so maybe I don’t know of any cork problems.
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### Author:  [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/9 "2003-12-02T17:55:39Z")
> [@](#):
>
> \*Originally posted by The Gaspode \*
> Pour hot water around the neck of the bottle, causing the glass to expand a little, making it esier to pull out the cork.
This may work, but probably not for the reason given. Heat may loosen the cork’s grip. But the cork has more than enough resiliency to cope with the amount by which the glass bottle neck expands.
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### Author:  [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/10 "2003-12-02T18:23:46Z")
Yeah, wouldn’t the expansion of the glass make the hole smaller, and hence the cork would be tighter?
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### Author:  [@spinky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/spinky)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/11 "2003-12-02T18:59:55Z")
No, expansion of the glass will make the hole bigger. But I agree with **Xema** that it probably isn’t by enough to matter (and you’ll warm your wine up, too).
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/12 "2003-12-02T19:12:52Z")
Dangle a cloth napkin down into the bottle, and jiggle the cork around until it lies in the folds of the napkin, pointing upwards. Pull slowly, and you should be able to (with a bit of force) pull out the trapped cork as well, if you get it stuck in the folds properly. I’ve seen this done as a parlor trick; it does work.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [December 2, 2003, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-get-a-stuck-cork-out-of-a-wine-bottle/216394/13 "2003-12-02T19:15:05Z")
Dammit. I saw **Nanoda** ’s post after accidentally paging down, and assumed it was the same situation, that the cork was trapped inside the bottle itself, rather than the neck. My apologies.