Managing crumbly corks
I recently bought a case of Château La Clotte 2001 at a good price – a slight risk, I know, having no idea how it has been stored. In each of three bottles so far, the cork has crumbled and broken, though the wine has actually been delicious. Any suggestions on how to get the cork out without breaking it?
Paul McKelvey, St Albans, Hertfordshire
David Longfield replies: It’s the perfect scenario for a ‘butler’s thief’ cork remover, Mr McKelvey – otherwise known as a jiggle-and-twist, this low-tech device is one that’s well worth having tucked in a drawer in case of just this kind of emergency! It’s essentially a handle with two flat metal prongs attached, sprung so that when you work them (cautiously) down the sides of a cork that looks/feels like it may crumble or be pushed down into a bottle under a regulation corkscrew, they apply some inward pressure to your dodgy cork.
Once you’ve persuaded the prongs far enough down – start with the longer of the two, and use a slight lateral motion as you progress, rather than pressing directly down – that pressure enables you then (the theory goes) to begin pulling up while rotating the cork out of the bottle neck. It is surprisingly and rather pleasingly effective. You may still get a bit of cork detritus in the top of
your wine, but that’s harmless and easily dealt with, as you have clearly discerned.
If a cork’s condition is bad enough, it may still break, in which case give it another go, gently. Or you may have to concede and push the rest of the cork down into the bottle – use the handle end of a teaspoon, and go slowly, to avoid wine spurting up out of the bottle!
The jiggle-and-twist is an inexpensive fallback option, and widely available. Online, City Wine Collection, Hedonism, Topnote Design and Wineware are offering them at £4.50-£8 – the ideal stocking-filler.
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