The most important part of treating a wine stain is to treat it as soon as possible, before the wine's sugars soak into the carpet's or rug's fibers. Treat it with what? Here are the top remedies to try:
Blot it with club soda.
Quickly, grab a towel, a paper towel, a clean cloth or a napkin or a handkerchief. Douse it in club soda, and blot the stain – not rub, but blot, with an up-and-down stamping motion perpendicular to the floor. Soak up as much wine as you can; you might even get all of it, if you get to it in time and it doesn't seep onto the lower fibers. Use cold water to keep the stain wet, reapply the club soda, and keep blotting. We find club soda to be the most effective do-it-yourself solution for removing red wine stains from your carpets and rugs.
Pour salt on it.
Table salt helps absorb the wine in the stain, if it's still wet. After blotting, cover the stain in a layer of salt or baking soda. After a few hours, vacuum it up, and the stain should be at least partly, if not wholly, lifted.
