Red wine cleanup

Removing Red Wine Stains From Anything

We’ve all been there with the inevitable red wine spills that turns into red wine stains. We watch it happen in slow motion as it unfolds in front of us with our eyes bulging in horror. It doesn’t matter when or where it occurs – you may have been a bit too comfortable and lethargic on the couch with a glass in-hand, or were a little too vigorous with the hand gestures while explaining a story. At the end of the day, it happens, but it doesn’t have to be a colossal tragedy.

There are a couple of things you could do when you realize your red wine is everywhere except in your glass. First, of course, is to panic. Don’t panic! Even if red wine is all over your favorite shirt, it can be saved!

The second thing you might do is to start trying to scrub the stain off, fail miserably, and walk off frustrated, leaving the stain for tomorrow. Don’t scrub and don’t procrastinate! We know, red wine stains often occur when we’re far too tired or distracted to worry about how to clean them up properly or immediately. But, it’s in your best interest to face the stain head on without delay, which brings us to our third point:

Employ a tried and true method to beat the stain before it gets you down. So instead of fretting over those red wine stains staring at you, take a few deep breaths and walk with us as we help you through the cleaning process.

Anatomy of a Red Wine Stain | General Tips | Carpet & Couch Specific Tips

Tough or Dried Stains | For Specific Items | Infographic

The Anatomy of a Red Wine Stain

Although you can take care of a red wine stain in the morning, attending to it immediately is always the best solution.

With the exception of a few types of fabrics, most fabrics are highly porous. When liquid matter gets into the fibers, they become immersed into the fabric’s pores. Unlike many of the other drinks we enjoy, red wine’s color is completely natural. The grape-based beverage contains chromogens, the primary substance in many colorful plants that are responsible for dyes. Yes, dyes. Red wine is essentially a giant bottle of dye molecules. Combine this with red wine’s naturally occurring tannins, an organic substance also used in many ink productions, and your red wine stain is essentially a DIY tie-dye experiment gone wrong.

Once red wine hits a fabric, it begins to sink into the fibers, with the liquid moving throughout the fiber’s pores wherever it can find space. Red wine, like all liquids, will move in two directions: down and outward.

Tips on Getting Out Red Wine Stains

The science behind why and how red wine absorbs into fabrics leads us to our first set of pro tips for cleaning red wine stains:

Tip #1: Do NOT scrub the stain!
Scrubbing will help pull some of the red wine out, but actually negatively impacts the stain as it causes it to spread outward even more. And, if you’re applying too much pressure, you’re actually pushing more red wine down into the fabric. This is especially true if you’re dealing with a red wine stain on the couch or on the carpet.

Tip #2: Don’t wait too long

While it’s tedious to deal with a red wine stain immediately, we wouldn’t recommend waiting until the next day to take care of it. Red wine will sink and settle into those fibers the longer they’re there. Eventually, they’ll “set” and become more difficult to remove. Not forgetting, of course, that red wine is basically a dye waiting to happen.

Tip #3: Do NOT apply heat

The last thing you want is for the stain to dry, but even worse is if the stain dries when hot air is applied. Heat will actually change the chemical process the stain undergoes when it dries. If you apply heat, you can expect a permanent or nearly permanent stain. So, put the hair dryer down, and for goodness sake, don’t put any stained clothes in the dryer before you apply any pre-wash cleaning methods.

Proper Steps to Remove Stains from Carpets and Couches

So you’ve got a red wine stained carpet and a nice splash of red wine on the couch. You’re taking care of it right now, and you didn’t start scrubbing away like a mad man (or woman). Now what?

Tip #4: Apply a dry material that will “lift” the red wine out

Like any liquid, red wine will move toward anything dry that it comes into contact with. Your best move right after you get a red wine stain is to grab a dry, powdery material and apply it generously on the red wine stain. These include:

Table salt
Baking soda
Sodium percarbonate, a.k.a. a granulated form of hydrogen peroxide
Dry soap powder
Talcum powder, which is used for baby powder
Kitty litter

These dry materials will “pull” the red wine out of the carpet, but don’t just start rubbing them in. Remember, you never want to rub (or scrub) the stain, regardless of what you’ve applied to it. Always apply the blotting method, even when it comes to cleaning up the salt or powder.

Let the salt (your best option), or any other dry, powdery material you use, settle for a few minutes. In some cases, this may be enough to actually remove the stain completely, especially if you acted fast enough. Otherwise, you may need to apply additional methods.

Additional Methods for Tough or Dry Stains

If your salt treatment didn’t quite work, or you need something a little extra to address the stain, applying some liquid measures may solve your problem, with some guidance of course.

Tips #5: Never apply white wine to red wine as a cleaning solution

We’re not sure who started this silly rumor, but don’t believe it. White wine is not a cleaning agent, nor will it counteract the dyeing agents in red wine. In fact, white wine may just cause your red wine stain to spread out even further. For your own sanity, and to avoid wasting precious white wine on a red wine stain, seek better, alternative methods.

Tip #6: Apply boiling water and blot the stain

Dry heat is very different from, well, wet heat. Hot water is a wonderful substance, especially when applied to other materials as a cleaning agent. It may cause the red wine to dilute and spread out a bit, but the hot water will also cause the molecules in the red wine to lose a bit of cohesion with the fabric, making it easier to clean. If this completely doesn’t work, you can try other methods.

Tip #7: Milk may do a fabric’s body good

Milk has absorption qualities to it. You can try pouring milk on the stain liberally, letting it sit for a few minutes, then blotting it up with a sponge or dry rag.

Tip #8: Beat the stain on the head with club soda and white vinegar

The minerals added to club soda may actually make it a better alternative than water. These will actually help absorb and break up the red wine molecules, which you can then blot up more easily. You can also apply club soda with white vinegar to help improve the result.

Tip #9: Grab the oxi cleaner

“Oxi” cleaners are an almost magical way to help remove stains early as well as already dried stains. These cleaners use sodium percarbonate which, when combined with water, breaks down into hydrogen peroxide. They’re great at breaking up stains, so if you have any, apply it to the stain, wait a while (20 minutes to an hour) while it does its job, and then blot the stain away.

Tip #10: Dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide for those without an oxi cleaner

If you don’t have an oxi cleaner, chances are you do at least have dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide somewhere in the house. Mix about 3 parts hydrogen peroxide and 1 part dishwashing liquid, then apply to your red wine stain. Let it sit for a while (think 20 minutes to an hour) to do its magic. Then, blot clean before attempting to fully wash out the mixture.

Specialized Red Wine Stain Removal Tips

Every stain is different. You may find yourself with a fresh stain on a piece of clothing, or a dried red wine stain on a couch. For different types of materials and different types of stains, you may find success with one method over another.

For clothing, try these options:

Pull the cloth tight before applying a method
Use the salt method on fresh stains
Use hot water on fresh stains, especially for table cloths
Use an oxi cleaner on dried stains before putting into a washing machine
For white shirts or other white clothing, bleach may be your best option

For carpets, try these options:

Use table salt immediately
Always blot the stain, never scrub
Use dry powders if no table salt is available
Use an oxi cleaner when available

For couches, try these options:

Pull the couch fabric taught, if possible
Use the salt method
Use an oxi cleaner when available
Use club soda and vinegar
Use dishwasher detergent and hydrogen peroxide mixture

For dry red wine stains, try these options:

Apply boiling hot water
Use an oxi cleaner
Use dishwasher detergent and hydrogen peroxide mixture

Even after all methods are applied, you may still find your red wine stains just aren’t going away completely. You may be struggling to figure out how to get red wine out of clothes after washing, for example, as those stains may still exist if you put the clothes in the wash without applying a pre-wash method. If your red wine stained carpet dried for far too long, your stain may sit there even after you apply an entire bottle of an oxi cleaner and hot water.

So just remember, time is of the essence! If you wait too long, that red wine stain may end up being impossible to remove. Therefore, act fast, make sure you have at least two of the solutions mentioned above on hand, and get to work.

Check out our inforgraphic that illustrates how to get a red wine stain out of anything and share this with fellow red wine lovers:

6 Ways to Remove a Red Wine Stain

Wine stains happen to the best of us — that’s just the risk we take for loving red wine so much. Be it on a tablecloth, a carpet, or your shirt, in the midst of a good time, wine may spill and you may to have to deal with cleaning it up. But spilled wine doesn’t have to ruin the night.

While it may seem impossible — can I really get this giant red splotch out of this white rug? — red wine stains are not as difficult to remove as you might think, especially if you act quickly. Immediately blot the area with a paper towel or clean cloth to absorb as much of the wine as possible, taking care not to scrub. Then use one of our favorite red wine stain removal tricks below.

Tricks To Remove A Red Wine Stain

Salt
Dishwashing Detergent
Boiling Water
White Vinegar
Bleach
Baking Soda

Salt (Great for carpets and rugs)

As soon as you stain your carpet with red wine, blot as much of it as you can with a paper towel, and then cover the entire stain with salt until you can’t see the red wine stain anymore. Let the salt soak into the wet stain and then dry. As the salt dries, it should suck up the stain. Then, simply vacuum everything up.

Dishwashing Detergent and Hydrogen Peroxide (Great for clothes)

Mix together equal parts dishwashing detergent (we like Dawn) and hydrogen peroxide. Pour the mixture over the wine stain and allow it to soak in. You should see the stain begin to fade almost immediately. After you have allowed the mixture to soak into the stain, launder the clothing normally. This trick works best on light colored clothes, as hydrogen peroxide has a tendency to bleach.

Boiling Water (Great for tablecloths)

Boil water in a tea kettle. While you’re boiling the water, find a large glass bowl and place it in the sink. Then stretch the portion of the fabric that has the stain on it over bowl and secure it with a rubber band. The fabric should be taut. When the water boils, pour it from a height over a foot above the stain directly on to the fabric. The stain should wash out.

White Vinegar and Laundry Detergent (Great for clothes)

Cover the stain in white vinegar, which neutralizes purple and red pigments. Immediately after applying the vinegar, rub in liquid detergent, then launder in hot water. The stain should lift.

Bleach (Best for white fabrics only)

While we don’t recommended using bleach for all wine stain occurrences, it is your best bet for getting wine out of white fabrics. Simply soak the fabric in bleach for about ten minutes and then launder in hot water. The stain will disappear.

Baking Soda and Water (Great for clothes and carpets)

As with salt, baking soda is a great way to absorb and break up a red wine stain. Once the area is blotted, cover liberally with a paste of baking soda and a few drops of water (this should be smooth enough to apply, but not too runny). On a carpet, allow the paste to dry completely and then vacuum it up. On clothing, allow the paste to dry completely, then launder in hot water.

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If the above tricks don’t seem to work, a chemical product we’ve been told does a great job is Wine Away, it even removes stains that are old and dry, though we’ve never tried it ourselves. And if all else fails, or you seem to encounter more stains than normal, you may want to consider just drinking white wine.

Published: January 25, 2022

How and how to remove and wash the wine stain from clothes and furniture

Excited guests touch the glass with their hand, it overturns, and stains appear on the white festive tablecloth. Or during a buffet table, someone from those present touches a glass in the hand of a neighbor, and the wine spills on a shirt or dress. What to do? To prevent the clothes from spoiling, urgent measures must be taken.

Methods for removing stains depend on the type of fabric. For linen dresses and for nylon shirts, they are different.

How to remove wine stains from cotton and linen fabrics?

The most common method for removing port-wine stains from cotton fabrics is table salt. It is slightly moistened with water to obtain a mushy mass. This mass is applied to the soiled piece of fabric. The wine soaks into the wet salt. After drying, the gruel is removed with a dry paper towel. In the case when the trace of wine is not completely removed, it will disappear during the next wash.

Another way is to use citric acid. To begin with, the trace of wine must be blotted so that the stain becomes dry. Then the soiled area of \u200b\u200bmatter is rubbed with a cut lemon, trying not to increase the soiled area. After the end of the holiday, contaminated clothes are washed.

How to clean nylon, silk and nylon garments?

A soiled shirt or jacket must be removed. A piece of cloth spoiled by wine is wiped with a mixture of alcohol and liquid soap. Then the mass is removed from the fabric, and the thing is washed.

You can try removing the stain with an acetic acid solution. If the stain is not completely removed, it will come off after washing. In the absence of the necessary funds at hand, you should remove the soiled clothing and wash it under cold running water.

How to remove an old wine stain from clothes?

If wine has been spilled on a shirt or dress for a long time, and it has not been washed off in time, there are ways to clean up the old trace:

If the contaminated item has a silk or woolen base, use a mixture of vodka - 3 parts, glycerin and ammonia 1 part each. Soak the stain for half an hour, and then wash the clothes;
Wool clothes are treated with milk. At the first stage, pollution is poured with warm milk. Then the whole thing is dipped in cold milk and kept there for half an hour. After that, the clothes are washed;
The easiest way to remove stains is from cotton fabrics. It is pulled over the pan so that the stain is in the middle. Then boil water in a kettle and pour boiling water over the stain. The spot becomes noticeably paler;
A solution of soda in water will also clean cotton clothes. 3 tablespoons are put per liter of water. soda. The solution is stirred and contaminated clothes are lowered there. Then do the laundry.

How do I remove old traces of wine from colored fabrics?

For colored clothes, there are special methods for removing wine stains:

A manganese solution will help to remove a port-wine stain from a colored item. The soiled area is soaked in it for 5 minutes, then a hydrogen peroxide solution is prepared. Pour 1 tsp into a glass of cool water. peroxides. Soak a piece of cotton wool in the solution and wipe the stain with it. This method is suitable for delicate fabrics.
A popular cleaning method is a mixture of egg and glycerine. They are mixed in equal proportions. Then dip a piece of cotton wool into the mixture and wipe the stain with it. After these manipulations, the thing is erased.
An original cleaning method is known in Spain. A red wine stain is poured with white wine. Then the thing is rinsed by hand in mineral water.

If wine is spilled on jeans, it will be enough to soak the garment in soapy water. The trousers are then washed in the machine.

How do I get wine stains out of white clothes?

White items do not need to be dry-cleaned to remove wine stains. It is worth trying home remedies:

If you pour lemon juice on the stain and hold it for a while, the stain will turn very pale;
Clean a white shirt or plain T-shirt first with a sponge and cold water. Then the washcloth is moistened in a soapy solution and the pollution is treated with it;
Tablecloth stains can be removed with ammonia. They moisten the soiled area, and then wash the tablecloth with baby soap;
Prepare a mixture of grated laundry soap and hydrogen peroxide. It is applied to the stain and left for a while until the trace of wine disappears;
Finally, there are stain removers for light-coloured laundry. In the store, it is worth reading whether the chosen product is suitable for removing traces of wine and how to use it.

Wash clothing to remove wine stains in cold water. If home remedies have not coped with the problem, you need to go to the dry cleaners.

How to remove traces of wine from carpets and upholstered furniture?

The following methods are most effective:

Moisten the spot on the carpet with water. Sprinkle it with salt on top. Gradually, the salt will be absorbed into the fabric, so it is sprinkled several times. The process will take 10 hours. When it absorbs the wine and dries, remove the dirt with a vacuum cleaner;
In the same way as in the first case, the carpet is cleaned with soda;
Washing powder is added to a solution of vinegar in water. Take 2 sponges. One is dipped in the prepared mixture and the dirt is wiped off. Then wipe the stain with a dry washcloth. The process is repeated until the stain disappears. Then the treated area is washed with cold water and dried;
If the carpet is old and has lost its brightness, you can wipe the wine stain with hydrogen peroxide. Do not press hard on the sponge. Then a section of the carpet is washed off peroxide with cool water;
Lemon juice is mixed with water in equal proportions. Pour the solution into a spray bottle and moisten the wine stain from it. It will fade and disappear after 30 minutes.

Upholstered furniture is cleaned of red wine with a mixture of egg and glycerin. Then the surface is wiped dry and washed with cold water. If red wine gets on your clothes or carpet, it is not necessary to immediately run to the dry cleaners. You can find home remedies that will destroy the stain.

How to remove fresh and old red wine stains

November 15, 2020 Likbez Adviсe

Citric acid, hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and a few other handy tools will help you with this.

Points to consider

Do not procrastinate cleaning. Old stains are more difficult to remove than fresh ones.
Any product must first be tested on an inconspicuous area of the fabric. So you will definitely make sure that its color and structure will not suffer.
If you are afraid to experiment or the item is very delicate, it is better to take it to a dry cleaner.

1. How to remove red wine stains with citric acid

This method will help you fight both fresh and old wine stains.

Mix equal amounts of citric acid and water and rub the mixture into the dirt. Leave for a few minutes if necessary. Once the stain is gone, rinse off. After that, you can additionally wash the item by hand or in a washing machine.

2. How to remove red wine stains with boiling water

The method accurately works with fresh pollution, but not always with old ones. In addition, it should not be used on fabrics that cannot be washed in hot water, such as synthetics.

Pull the soiled cloth over the bowl. Pour boiling water over the stain until it disappears. Fresh spots disappear literally before our eyes, while old ones need more time.

F.DIY YouTube channel ☘ Chips for life – F.ua

3. How to remove red wine stains with toilet cleaner

Incredible, but true. Cleaning products for plumbing are able to cope even with old dried stains. On the forums, the Domestos and Dosia brands are most often praised. But for delicate fabrics, it is better to choose a more delicate cleaning method.

Pour a small amount onto a sponge and apply to the dirt. Rub in until the stain is gone. Then rinse off the product and wash the item by hand or in a typewriter.

4. How to remove red wine stains with hydrogen peroxide and laundry soap

This method will help to deal with both fresh and old stains.

Lightly dampen the dirt and spray with peroxide. After about a minute, lather with laundry soap, rub a little and pour plenty of peroxide again. Repeat the steps until the stain is completely gone. After that, the item can be additionally washed by hand or in a washing machine.

5. How to Remove Red Wine Stains with Hydrogen Peroxide and Dishwashing Liquid

This method is also effective on both fresh and old stains.