At some point or another it happens to all of us — we spill a glass of red wine. When sharing wine with good friends, a spill is bound to happen. So don’t panic, in a few simple steps you can get out the wine stain:

  • Step 1: Blot the stain. 
    As soon as the spill occurs, clean up as much of the excess wine as you can. Make sure you don’t rub the stain, just dab or blot.
  • Step 2: Soak the stain in water. 
    After cleaning up the excess wine, completely soak the stain with cool water. This prevents the stain from setting.
  • Step 3: Cover the stain with salt. 
    Now that the stain has been soaked with cool water, cover the stain in salt until you can’t see the stain anymore. We think Kosher salt works best, but any salt will do. The salt should start to turn pink as it pulls the stain out. After the salt dries and cakes, remove the salt.
  • Step 4: Rinse the stain with hot water. 
    After removing the salt, rinse the stain with hot water and then throw it in the wash and launder normally. The stain should be gone.

If the above method doesn’t work, another trick people like to use is soaking the stain for at least an hour in a mixture of one part white vinegar to two parts water. After soaking the stain should lighten, and the garment can then be laundered normally.