It's the end of a wonderful dinner party: many bottles were uncorked, glasses clinked, and now after hours of stimulating conversation, your guests just departed feeling warm and socially lubricated. When you survey the aftermath, you see it: a few drops of red wine on the tablecloth, possibly even on the carpet. What do you do?
We searched our archives and one recommendation kept coming up:
Gently blot up the excess liquid. (Blot, don't rub!) Then mix equal parts Dawn dishwashing liquid soap with hydrogen peroxide. Pour the mixture on the red wine stain and let it soak. Then wash. Note: Hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent, so this works best on light-colored fabrics.
Readers, what are your red wine stain removing tricks? What works and what doesn't? Tell us below!
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I've always just dusted the spot with Oxiclean, myself. Works wonders. (I swear this isn't spam!) :)
OxiClean powder.
Put a few scoops in a big tub, fill with hot water and soak the tablecloth in it. Then throw the tablecloth in the wash and wash like you normally would. I don't dry my tablecloths so if a stain ever doesn't come out, it doesn't set. This works for wine, coffee, gravy, blueberry pie - you name it. My tablecloths are all 100% cotton and washable on hot, not sure how this would work on other materials.
I have used Oxiclean on a red wine stain on a light tan carpet too. You have to mix it with water, put it on, rinse with clean water, let dry, and then vacuum the spot (if I remember correctly, instructions are on the box). Came out looking like new.
I have a bit of a quirky experience with red wine stains.
I made one on my favorite linen blouse at a halloween party (dressed up as a hippy) and went really "F#%&!?!". I ran to the bathroom and used the first thing I could found, basic industrial soap. The stain turned blue, lovely... Rinsed it and tried another kind of soap, but it remained blue.
I went back to the other guests. We started the usual "salt" vs. "the last thing you want to put on it is salt" debate. Then a fellow compatriot reminded me that in France, we often say that white wine could remove red wine. I was a little desparate and tried it: the stain disappeared right away!
No idea if it was just the "white wine over red wine" formula that worked, or rather the whole "two kinds of soap, a 15-minute debate and then white wine" formula, though. :)
My husband put an almost-full glass of red wine on the coffee table, and the dog walked by, wagging his tail and knocked the whole thing onto the floor at my dad's house. I'm a knitter, so I had Eucalan Wool Wash with me. After we blotted up as much as we could with dry towels, I put a small cap-ful of it in with some cold water, and poured it onto the stain. We were ALL amazed at how it disappeared right in front of our eyes! My dad ordered a bottle of his own as soon as he got back to his computer.
My grandmother turned me on to a mixture of 1tbs ammonia + 1/2 cup of peroxide, apply with a small dropper for dribbles and blot with paper towel. Of course, this is for light color carpet etc.
OxyClean is like powdered gold. Gets up EVERYTHING like it never happened. Including a full glass of red wine on my grandmother's white sofa!
Oxy-clean. Also, a wine-colored oriental carpet is just the thing for hiding spills!
I like Inchbranchs solution!
CLUB SODA!! works best..........
There is a product called Wine Away. Sounds like a gimmick but it is amazing.
My uncle is taking some wine classes at our state uni and the professor told him that White Wine will take out the Red Wine. Something about the tannins... I was enjoying a glass while he was talking, so it didn't seem important. Said to just keep a bottle of basic cheap house white wine just for the occasion.
Yup. White wine works! Had a red wine spill on light-colored carpet once at a party, and since the big bottle of white was open, we doused the red stain, and away it went!
I'm unclear if Oxyclean only works on white linens/upholstery or any color / prints?
Salt! Spread liberally over stain, let dry, wash with cold water and detergent/baking soda- poof, it's gone!
Also, tip from a costume designer- remember that with small/surface stains, you don't want to scrub them from the stained side through to the cleaner side, because you're just rubbing the stain into *more* fibers. If you need to scrub, do it from the cleaner side towards the stained side (hopefully that makes sense).
Wine Away! I knocked a full glass of red wine on my uncles beige table cloth and felt TERRIBLE, but he just laughed and doused it with this spray stuff and I watched it disappear before my eyes! Then a friend spilled red wine on a pair of shoes she'd borrowed and had no luck getting it out at two different dry cleaners. I gave her my bottle of Wine Away (which I of course bought after the incident with the table cloth) and it came out! I'm a total believer
Carbona red wine stain remover. I found a red wine stain from a party more than a week later. Gone.
Now, how do I remove orange egg decorating dye from carpeting? Oxi-clean hasn't worked, nor has Tec. HELP!
Oxyclean's main ingredient is sodium percarbonate (sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide). Any of the "oxy" cleaners will work or if you have a bottle handy just use some hydrogen peroxide.
If you'd like to replace other cleaners in your house you can get more concentrated forms online. The stuff in the stores is usually a 3% peroxide to 97% water solution.
I've had tremendous luck with Bac-Out by BioKleen - it got straight food coloring out of a shirt the other day in an instant (that'll teach me to lean against the bowl while I mix!). It's taken out stains that nothing else has and the bonus is that you can also use it on dog/cat urine, since it's an enzyme cleaner. Good luck!
For carpets: dump a liberal amount of salt on the wine stain. Let the salt absorb the wine. Vacuum the next day.
For clothing: I like the Ecover stain stick.
Red wine was accidentally spilled on my expensive silk/wool olive green rug. It was a huge splatter.
Fortunately for us Aussies we have a stain removal bible- Spotless by Shannon Lush and Jennifer Fleming. Every stain and permutation is covered in 2 small handy volumes.
Absorb as much of the spill as possible with paper towels. Sprinkle a little bicarb soda. Stain will change from red to pale grey. Don't use too much though. Wring out a cloth in white vinegar, wipe, leave to dry and vacuum. It worked! Never ever use soda water or salt!
I bought a purple couch. DONE.
Wine Away is amazing!
Hot Shot! Immediately gone.
i second the salt! ive had a few dinner parties turned sloppy where someone spills red wine on the rug -- dump a ton of salt on it, go to bed, and deal with it in the morning. the salt soaks up the wine like magic!
My granny's trick: cover the stain with salt, let it dry, vacuum or shake it out. Anything that still remains, soak it in Biz. Biz is great stuff if you have vintage linens that are dingy or yellowed or have old stains - it's not a bleach, it just works.
Vinegar and water gets out all stains.
Boiling water.
Learned it as a kid from my favorite page of mom's Betty Crocker cookbook: how to treat stains. Works on purple and red berry stains, as long as the fabric can take the hot water. It's like magic, ideally just pour through the fabric and watch it disappear!