Sometimes bits of the cork are left in the wine while removing the cork. Is it unhealthy to consume these small pieces of cork (ignoring the health factor of consuming the wine itself)?
No. They taste kinda gross, though.
That’s where you get all the health benefits of fiber.
It’s just tree bark.
Can’t you just pick the pieces out of your glass, or decant it, or pour it through an unbleached coffee filter or something?
Cork is pretty harmless - I guess you could gag on a bit and choke, or something.
However, bits of cork in the wine may indicate that the bottle has been improperly stored (or that the cork itself was defective from the start - and this might mean the wine isn’t worth drinking anyway.
Everybody needs more roughage.
Right - especially if it’s floating in a nice bath of, say, Chateau Pétrus.
(It would be a bit late in the game to be discovering that cork was harmful.)