How to get red wine stains out of a white shirt

danielle123 · June 2009

I know there are some wine drinkers on this site (aka "lushes") so fyi:

2 nights ago I accidentally spilled red wine on my favorite white shirt (Roots: 1 - my fav new wine from Chile). I tried using soda water, then salt, with no luck. I googled for a solution and found a post about mixing hydrogen peroxide with Dawn dishwashing liquid (some of the comments on the site said you could use any dishwashing liquid).

I poured the mixture on the stains and left the shirt out to dry. The next morning you could not tell there had ever been any stains - it was perfectly white, again.

scarlett · June 2009

Eesh did it burn a hole in your shirt?

I stick to tried and true French method of salt only - no soda, just salt immediately.

brokechick · June 2009

peroxide is a bleach, so it makes sense. what was the ratio of peroxide to soap in the solution you used?

sweet tea · June 2009

tide pen. know it; love it.

also nice for tablecloth stains.

useless on grease, however.

meredithb · June 2009

Usually my wine stains aren't the size of a quarter but a Frisbee ;-)

opossumqueen · June 2009

I think I used that combo to get dried blood out of a colored shirt and got most of it. Plus it was fun to watch the peroxide meet the blood and fizz!

new2hood · June 2009

There's a product called "wine away" that really, really works. I think you can find it at a lot of wine stores and at "homestuff" stores (william-sonoma, etc.) It looks like this:
http://www.wineaway.com/

danielle123 · June 2009

brokechick wrote: peroxide is a bleach, so it makes sense. what was the ratio of peroxide to soap in the solution you used?

I used a small amount of dishwashing liquid to the hydrogen peroxide. The mixture fizzes and turns white. Here's the link where I got the tip:

http://www.stratsplace.com/patty_wine_stain.html

According to this woman, it doesn't seem to matter what ratio or what dishwashing liquid. She also said that the peroxide doesn't work alone (maybe there's a chem teacher who can tell us how this works?).

Scarlett, it didn't burn a hole through my shirt or do anything bad to it! (I'll let you know, though, if the next time I wear it, it just crumbles off of my body. I'll be sure to wear a pretty bra, just in case - ha!).

french bread · June 2009

I used that mixture on a silk shirt. I had a whole glass of red wine spill on it and it got it all out perfectly. The trick is to make sure the mixture is freshly made.

coined · June 2009

before i bought my new couch/chair/ottoman, i took a fabric sample home and dipped it into red wine to make sure that it wasn't noticeable

danielle123 · June 2009

Flexi, what couch did you end up getting? Did I miss that post?

milkwasabadchoice · June 2009

the Alex II in chocolate. It's purty...and comfy

sweet tea · June 2009

i'm not a chemist, but if the hydrogen peroxide is fizzing before it touches your stain, move FAST. pretty sure once the fizz is gone, your H2O2 is just H2O.

danielle123 · June 2009

With that statement, you're more chemist than me!

How to get red wine stains out of a white shirt

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