What helps against red wine stains?
Has this ever happened to you? You’re sitting in a restaurant with a pristine white table cloth and suddenly it happens… The glass tips over and the fine table cloth is instantly covered in horrible red wine stains. So, what should you do?
The key points
- Salt and white wine are ineffective against red wine stains.
- A study reveals that lots of household remedies don’t work.
- Liquid soap and hydrogen peroxide are effective, but only for white textiles.
- Professional laundries offer the best solution.
What do studies reveal about the effectiveness of household remedies and stain removers?
There’s no reason at all to make an attempt, as many people do, to soften red wine stains using all kinds of dubious household remedies, such as rinsing in white wine or sprinkling with salt. One particular bad habit that is often practised but completely ineffective is sprinkling salt on the stain. This only enlarges the chaos on the table.
Fifteen years ago the University of California in Davis investigated the effects of various remedies for removing red wine stains. The study compared eight stain removers, including commercial substances as well as classic home remedies, for their effect on various textile fibres.
For one thing the result showed that, even among commercial stain removers, there are great differences in efficacy, and not every remedy is equally well suited for every fabric. And apart from this you can skip the widely used home remedies.
Why is it not a good idea to sprinkle salt on red wine stains?
Sprinkling the stain with salt had no detectable effect – and washing it out with white wine had virtually no influence whatsoever. Only with nylon could some effect be detected.
For some textiles the home remedies even on occasion made the stain worse which is not really surprising considering that you have to use salt when dyeing textiles in order to help the fabric take the dye.
How do you remove red wine stains effectively?
The test winner among the stain removers in the study was a simple mixture of equal parts of liquid soap and hydrogen peroxide. This combination was able to effectively whiten the red wine colour pigments. However, this was only suitable for white table linen.
Therefore the safest and simplest remedy remains the one which is also common in gastronomies: You send the table linen to a professional laundry, because it will have no problem at all in removing everyday stains like this.
The author
Frank Kämmer
I have worked for many years in high-end restaurants and in this time became one of the top sommeliers in Europe. In 1996, I achieved the title of Master Sommelier, the highest international qualification in my profession. Today, I work primarily as a consultant in the international wine and gastronomy sector. I have also published numerous books on wines and spirits and was the first German to be accepted into the British Circle of Wine Writers.
