A stopper remover comprises a relatively thin elongate member, having greater length than width, with a flared portion at an end thereof. In performing the method according to the invention, a stopper is removed from a bottle by curling the elongate member around the longitudinal axis thereof, inserting the flared end a sufficient distance into the neck of the bottle to capture the stopper in the flared portion, and extracting the remover from the bottle thereby removing the stopper. The remover is also advantageously employed in simply bringing the stopper back up into the neck of the bottle, enabling ultimate extraction of the stopper by conventional means.