How to Remove Red Wine Stains

Featured Pro: Eric Stromer
Category: Home Improvement
Time: 3:38


ERIC STROMER: If a friend spills a glass of wine on your carpet or your tablecloth, don’t panic. I’m going to show you how to get it out. I’m Eric Stromer, and this is your GMC Trade Secret.

Red wine stains rank among the hardest to get out. That’s because there’s a pigment found in grape skins that’s similar to fabric dyes. How you treat red wine stains will depend on how fast you get to them. The quicker you attack a wine stain, the more likely you are to get it out.

Let me demonstrate. Here’s some wine. I’m going to make a spill. Now I’m going to mix a teaspoon of dish soap with a cup of hydrogen peroxide. That hydrogen peroxide’s in the cup already. Okay, good. Now I’m going to go ahead and fill the sponge with that solution and drizzle it down onto the stain. I’m going to let this soapy solution penetrate the stain, and then I’ll go ahead and rinse it out with cold water. Looks pretty good.

Now, here’s another solution – club soda. Now, it’s a mystery why club soda works to remove wine stains, but if you act quickly, the carbonation, water, and the small amount of salts in the seltzer will help lift the wine out. Let’s give it a try.

So I’m going to go ahead and make another stain right here with red wine. Okay, good. Now I’m going to go ahead and fill club soda in this measuring cup, and we’ll go ahead and soak our tablecloth in the club soda. So once that’s thoroughly saturated, I’m going to go ahead and take this out of the solution and then I can just cover this entire area with salt and let it dry overnight. And the salt will act to leach out any existing wine residue. Let’s let that set up overnight. Tomorrow morning brush the salt off, and your stain will be gone.

If the red wine stain is already dry, don’t worry. It’s still possible to get it out. For dry wine stains, a common saying says to fight wine with wine – white wine. Now, if you don’t have anything else, in a pinch, go ahead and try this. I’m just going to go ahead and pour some white wine over the dried red wine stain. I’m going to go ahead and let this soak for a few minutes. Let’s go ahead and rinse this out. Yeah, worked pretty good.

Now, these same methods will work well on clothing too – club soda, white wine, soap and hydrogen peroxide. Then run it through the laundry. The best thing is we got it out using things you can find around your home.

I’m Eric Stromer. That’s your GMC Trade Secret.