The Red Wine Stain
The Red Wine Stain
The Red Wine Stain
Dinner parties are wonderful things. Especially when they're relaxed.
I once went to one where the hostess only allowed us to drink white wine.
Riesling from the Hunter and Savignon Blanc from the Tasman paired with Victorian champagne. These golden joys were the order of the day.
The dinner was splendid and we ate every delicate repasse from the sea that the oceans could muster.
I complimented the blonde hostess at the end of the meal and asked, in a joking sense, whether white wine was her preferred drink.
Surprisingly she rebuked the statement, immediately relaying her preference for red wine.
I asked her why she did not serve this beverage of preference at her party.
"Why my carpet of course!"
I looked down and observed her sparkling white carpet, freshly laid and still soft underfoot.
"It is very disappointing, but I shall avoid all of my favorite reds until I can spare to deal with the hideous stains that they will leave behind."
I thought about this for some time after, and looked into how this problem could be solved.
Whereby my dear hostess could have her red wine and her parties in one.
The aged liquid's acidic constitution, its thick texture and dark tones, make it a hard plight for any willing housekeeper to remove a red wine stain from the delicate threads of their favorite carpet.
Until I came upon this simple solution...
"As soon as the spill has occurred, act quickly while it's still fresh using white paper towelling make a thick pad of say six or so sections and blot up the bulk of spilt liquid. Repeat as required. Next, apply a solution of white vinegar and water say 1 table spoon of white vinegar in 500mls of water. Blot as before with absorbent paper or towelling cloth/sponge/microfibre cloth/nappy etc. Avoid using detergent as the alkali will react with the anthcyan (the natural dye that gives wine and berry stains their blue colouring) in the wine and turn it bright pink."
This and other carpet cleaning tips courtesy of the Australian Carpet Cleaning Institue
An alternative that also works is to substitute the vinegar/water solution with white wine.
A red wine stain is a tedious burden to remove, but with this immediate action all chances of a stain will be expunged.
I told this grain of wisdom to my dear hostess and she rewarded me with yet another dinner party.
This time it was a sumptuous feast of dark roasted meats. We started the meal with beef carpaccio complimented by a New Zealand Pinot Noir, followed by roasted suckling pig with an aged Bordeaux from 1983.To finish, a tawny part and pears braised in red wine and clove.
Stories were exchanged, laughs lingered in the flickering candlelights of our table, and the red wine was passed among hands and filled into crystal orbs mirroring reflections of the firelit scene.
After all of the other guests had left the party, I stayed to help clean the red wine stains left behind. Using a drop of old white left behind in the fridge, I blotted and pulled up the crimson marks. To her joy the carpet was fully restored to its former white self. I left my hostess among gleams of admiration and promises for a new dinner in time to come.
I will remember to refer back to Carpet Cleaning Australia in the future.
Linux: A Few Good Reasons to Make the Switch How to Install Guest Additions to Windows and Linux VMs in VirtualBox Linux Hard Drive Recovery to Retrieve Your Valuable Data Xbox 360 Three Red Lights - What Causes it and How Can You Reduce the Risk of Failure? XBox Red Ring of Death Fix - What You Should Do If Your XBox 360 Fails Recovering corrupted ext2-based file system from Linux General Information Pertaining To Red Tarps Watch Juventus vs SV Red Bull Salzburg in Live HD Online Benefits Of Linux Web Hosting Server Qualities That Should Be Present In a Reliable Linux Web Hosting Service Guide To Favorite Red And White Wines The Benefits Of Red Wine Tips To Store Your Red Wine In Wine Storage Racks