Red Wine Spill On Carpet - Here Are Tips For Removing It

by Taylor

If you've drunk red wine, you've most likely had a red wine spill on carpet in your home. If you haven't, count yourself lucky but be prepared anyway, because it can easily happen to you.

Below I've collected tips for removing the stains the wine leaves behind from your carpet. Like with many things in life there are multiple ways to remove a stain, so the videos below show multiple techniques. I think each of them has some good information to offer, so I've included them all.

The tips below really focus mainly on home remedies for removing these stains, or show blotting techniques and tips for your carpet. You can also read wine stain remover reviews here, where people have reviewed various products designed to remove these stains from your carpet to say what has, and has not, worked for them.

If you have had luck with additional tricks and tips, I would love to hear them. You can share your tips here, or read other tips already submitted.

Good luck with removing your red wine spill on carpet! I hope these tips help. You can also check out my article on red wine stain removal for even more ideas.

Your Homemade Stain Remover Recipe Worked On My Rug!

Taylor says:

I've been writing this website all about removing stains for a long time now, but over time you learn more and more. Well, I finally came across a homemade stain remover recipe for removing red wine from fibers that works really well.

I first suggested it for removing these stains from clothes, but then noticed that it was also being used for carpet (as you can see from the two videos below which suggest it as one of their steps in the removal process).

The recipe is simple: Equal parts 3% hydrogen peroxide (like the kind you buy at the store for first aid) and dish soap (some say you should use Dawn specifically). That's it!

You can read more about the recipe here, where I first discussed it for clothing, but I wanted to make sure I added it to this page, close to the top, so you could try this method first!

Whenever using anything like this on your carpet, first test it in an inconspicuous area to make sure it doesn't harm, or in this case bleach it. Really, it should be fine, but carpet is expensive so always use caution just to be on the safe side.

Further, once the stain is removed when you're using the recipe on clothes you can just throw them in the wash to remove the dish soap and peroxide mixture. Obviously, you can't do that with carpet, so once the stain is gone be sure to lightly rinse out all of the stain remover from the carpet (make sure not to dampen the carpet more than necessary though!) with a clean white cloth and water.

A reader, Lorraine, used this recipe on her rug and it worked great for her.

Lorraine says:

Spilt a big, full glass of red wine on my pale gray rug!

After trying soda water, salt, and a bicarbonate of soda and water paste, my rug was as bad as ever and it's now 4 days later!!

Found this and gave it a try.......worked like a charm :-) Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

Red Wine Stain Carpet Tips

Below is a video giving red wine stain carpet tips, which I think is really excellent.

The video gives step by step instructions for removing red wine stains from your carpet.

The most important step is to act as quickly as possible when a red wine spill occurs, because red wine contains tannins which stain quickly and easily.

When at your dinner party someone accidentally spills wine onto the carpet blot up as much of the red wine as possible with paper towels.

The video demonstrates how to blot, from the outside of the stain in, to make sure your blotting does not spread the stain further.

The next step is to begin removing the stain with a stain removal solution.

However, if your dinner party is still going on you may not want to be on your hands and knees cleaning your carpet.

The video suggests in that case that you cover the stain with a thick layer of salt, which it says will help prevent the stain from setting.

Once you are ready to clean up the red wine spill from the carpet you just vacuum up the salt before heading onto the next step.

Then, the video gives two suggestions for red wine stain removal solutions, the first being gentler and the second for really stubborn stains.

The first solution contains:

• 1 tablespoon dishwashing liquid


• 1 tablespoon white vinegar


• 2 cups warm water

The second solution contains:

• 1 part dishwashing liquid


• 2 parts 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide

One note of caution for the solution containing hydrogen peroxide, test it first in an inconspicuous area first before applying to your carpet.

The reason for this is that hydrogen peroxide is a bleaching agent, and you don't want to bleach the color out of your carpet with this solution.

After using either red wine stain removal solution you will need to blot the carpet again with cool water, to remove as much of the solution as possible from your carpet, and then blot the carpet dry.

See the video below for a demonstration of all the steps listed above.



Remember, if you have a red wine spill on carpet and don't want to make your own stain remover to clean it up there are commercially available wine stain remover products you can use instead, many of which are safe for carpets. You can click the link to read reviews to find which ones work best.

Photo by tobiastoft

How To Remove Red Wine Stain Carpet - Tips And Video

Below is a video giving several tips for how to remove red wine stain from carpet when you have a red wine spill on carpet.

The most obvious, and effective thing to do when red wine spills on your carpet is to blot up as much of it as possible, as quickly as possible.

Then, the video gives alternate suggestions for the next step:

A: Blot white wine onto the red wine stain to try to remove even more of the red wine; or

B: Cover the stained area of the carpet with salt and let it sit there until the salt has soaked up as much of the red wine as it can, and then vacuum it up.

Either of these methods is likely to have some of the stain still remaining, because red wine stains are so tough to remove from carpet.

Therefore, the final suggestion in the video is to use a half and half solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide and dishwashing liquid, and blot this onto the stain.

Does that suggestion sound familiar? Well, it should. Because I am amazed how well that 2 ingredient recipe works for removing those stains!

Keep applying this solution until the red wine stain is removed from the carpet.

In addition, the video does not say to, but after you have removed the stain you should blot again with a clean white cloth and plain water to remove as much of the dishwashing liquid and hydrogen peroxide from the carpet as possible.

As you can see when you have a red wine spill on carpet, there are several ways to remove it, but acting quickly is very important.

Is there a method you've used that has been successful which has not been mentioned above? If so, please share your own tip about how to remove a red wine stain here.

Photo by glen edelson

Related Pages You May Enjoy

Stain Removal Tips & Tricks For Busy Moms

Tips For Removing White Wine Stains

Dish Soap Uses For Homemade Cleaners And Stain Removers

Carpet Stain Removal Tips

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