Spilling red wine is a classic problem,usually we try all sorts of remedies based upon helpful advice from friends or old wives tales, some of these are based upon solid foundations and often work, many do not and make the situation far worse.

So here are 4 quick steps to remove red wine stains from your carpets.

Act Quickly! Without a doubt this is the most important first step, prompt action will prevent the wine from drying out and setting into the dye sites of the fibres thereby permanently staining your carpets. So don't be afraid to take action, especially if you know what you are doing as per the next points below.

Apply water. Throwing down a bottle of clean water on the spilt wine will instantly dilute the red colour. Do not be afraid of soaking the carpet (within reason of course). If you have spilt half a bottle of red wine then pour on another half bottle of clean water. I would not recommend pouring white wine down as often suggested. There is logic in the white wine approach as this will help balance out the ph of the spilt liquid, but in my opinion this is just a waste of perfectly good white wine, clean water will do the job.

Blot the stain. Do not be tempted to rub the carpet fibres, excessive rubbing will eventually start to abraid the fibres and leave you with a fuzzy fur ball looking patch of carpet. This is permanent physical damage to the fibres and even if the red wine stain can be successfully removed your furry patch cannot. Far better to gently blot the red wine out of the carpet trying to absorb as much as possible.

Keep the stain damp. If you cannot get all of the red wine out of the carpet then try to keep the affected area damp, this will help prevent permanent dye setting. The best way to do this is to lay a damp towel or dish cloth over the affected area. This will buy you time until you can call the professionals, I have seen this tactic work on a spilt tin of wood varnish that was kept damp overnight, resulting in a completely successful removal the following day by professional carpet cleaners.

It's not possible to promise these steps will work on every occasion but in my experience they will help on most occasions and in any event will not make the situation any worse.

Reference by : David_James_Hunt