How to Remove Red Wine Stains From a Carpet

Don't worry-- while that bright red stain on your carpet might look like the end of the world, it doesn't stand a chance against these stain-busting instructions. Follow them with patience and determination and you can have it out in no time.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Paper towels or clean cloth
• Rug Doctor brand carpet shampoo or dish soap
• Warm Water
• Sponge
• Hydrogen peroxide

1. Blot the spill with paper towels or a clean cloth.

2. Combine 1 teaspoon carpet shampoo (or dish soap, like Dawn) and 1 cup hydrogen peroxide in a small bowl. Soak a clean sponge in the mixture, squeeze it halfway dry, then gently blot the stain. Continue until the stain lifts.

3. Sponge the stained area with warm water.

4. Blot dry with a clean cloth or paper towels.

Tips & Warnings

• Act immediately. The longer a stain sits, the harder it is to remove.
• Commerical products like Oxy Clean and Wine Away do an excellent job of removing red wine stains, but try this homemade version if you don't have either of those on hand.

[cixpayne]

on 10/8/2009 My wife spilled an entire glass - tried it first with just a splash of 10% peroxide hair stuff and soup - disin't do much - upped the dose to half peroxide and 1/2 warm washing powder solution - stains started coming out. Felt it burning my hands a bit - it is bleach so made sure really washed it out with warm

[cixpayne]

on 10/8/2009 My wife spilled an entire glass - tried it first with just a splash of 10% peroxide hair stuff and soup - disin't do much - upped the dose to half peroxide and 1/2 warm washing powder solution - stains started coming out. Felt it burning my hands a bit - it is bleach so made sure really washed it out with warm water as quickly as possible - Looks like it worked!

[tsoff]

on 8/14/2009 PattyS and KenP YOU ROCK! I spilled a whole glass of red wine on my white carpet.. I didn't panic because I had my Oxyclean, knew to act fast, blotted, used my Bissell cleaner and went to bed pleased to see the huge stain GONE. (Did regret loosing the wine. it was a good one.)
24 hrs later I return to admire my savvy cleaning skills and to my horror there was a horrible GREY stain where my precious Zin had fallen! I read both your posts and went to work on your version, Kenneth, of Patty's "recipe". UNREAL! IT IS GONE!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!
I want to add that this did produce quite a bit of suds in my dirty water canister. I added a teaspoon or less, of rubbing alcohol to the dirty water and was able to complete the job w/out having to keep re-emptying. Thank You! CHEERS

[patadragon]

on 5/12/2009 I spilt a full glass of red wine on a rug and immediately covered the stain with carbonated water. The wine completely disappeared! This only works before the stain has set, though.

[KennethP]

on 9/21/2008 A huge goblet of red wine was knocked over onto my light colored berber carpet. Bloting, rinsing, shampooing made the spot look better but did not take the entire stain out. Researching the subject further on the web, I came across Patty S.'s "recipe" for getting out red wine stains so I tried it. Mixed 50% carpet shampoo with 50% hydrogen peroxide, and sprayed it over the spot. Then took my handheld carpet shampooer,added the solution to that, and went over the spot a few times with the shampooer. Voila! The stain came completely out! You could never tell that there was ever a red wine spill there. Absolutely incredible! Thanks for sharing, Patty S.!