How to Remove a Red Wine Stain

With having three kids (and being a bit clumsy myself) I have had plenty of opportunity to test stain removers. I am a big fan of Oxi Clean to remove stains, and in particular Baby Oxi seems to work wonders, but for removing red wine stains from clothing, Wine Away is the best product I have found.

My brother-in-law recently spilled a glass of Zinfandel, a deep red wine, on his white jacket. Luckily, I had some Wine Away stain remover on hand. We promptly applied the Wine Away, spraying all of the areas where he had spilled the wine. As you can see from the pictures, the wine instantly started to turn a purplish color. This is common with this product.

After waiting a few minutes we applied the Wine Away a few more times, until the red wine color was almost gone. Since the stain was on a white jacket, we used multiple applications (about a third of my bottle). On the grey part of his jacket, however, one spray of Wine Away and the stain was gone. I would expect this is common with wine stains on fabrics that have color.

While it was still damp, I ran the jacket through the washing machine on cold. I would recommend washing the garment as soon as the wine color has faded. Don't wait until the next day. When the jacket came out, it looked like new. The only remaining element was that the jacket still smelled of oranges. Wine Away has an orange smell which, I think, is preferable over a chemical smell. He probably will have to wash the jacket again to remove the smell, but the red wine stain is gone.

I haven't used the Wine Away product on carpet yet. I have used it on upholstery, however, and it worked great.

When removing stains from carpet or upholstery, it is especially important to test the product on a small area before broadly applying. I have had good luck with Baby Oxi (better than regular Oxi). I simply diluted the Baby Oxi with water and scrubbed it on the stain. If the stain is really stubborn, I wet the stain, apply the Oxi directly, and let it sit, sometimes for days. It seems to work best when it is like a paste—slightly wet. You have to be careful though, as the product can bleach out an item a little bit.

Overall, I highly recommend these two products. For tips on removing permanent marker stains from painted walls, visit one of my other Hubs here. If you have other favorite products or tips that help remove stains, please leave a comment below.