New Zealand woman is refused sparkling grape fruit juice

A teetotaler was told she couldn’t buy a bottle of grape juice because it was being sold as booze despite having zero alcohol.

Lisa Newlands tried to buy a bottle of Lindauer Sparkling Grape at her local Countdown grocery in Auckland on her way home from work on Sunday.

But the 43-year-old was asked to produce ID to buy the bubbly, and told she couldn’t have the $8 beverage because it was after 11pm.

The supermarket said its agreement with supplier Lion meant it was sold as alcohol and age restricted because it was an ‘alternative’ for Christmas celebrations 

The astonished mother argued about the ‘mind boggling’ prohibition that prevented the grape juice from being bought as it was promoted as alcohol.

‘When you’re sitting there, having an argument in public about sparkling grape juice, it’s just bizarre. We just got into this circular argument,’ she told Stuff.

The supermarket said its agreement with supplier Lion meant it was sold as alcohol and age restricted because it was an ‘alternative’ for Christmas celebrations.

‘We appreciate this might be frustrating but from a responsible retailing view, it’s important this product is considered an alternative for adults not kids,’ it said.

Ms Newlands took to Facebook to express her frustration, and it seems a number of social media users agree with her 

The store’s alcohol responsibility manager Paul Radich said Countdown didn’t want to ‘normalise a product which looks very similar to other alcoholic products’.

”We appreciate this might be frustrating but from a responsible retailing view, it’s important this product is considered an alternative for adults not kids.’

Ms Newlands took to Facebook to express her frustration, and it seems a number of social media users agree with her. 

‘If its not alcoholic then it should be sold alongside other grape juices not in the alcohol section,’ one user wrote. 

The store’s alcohol responsibility manager Paul Radich said Countdown didn’t want to ‘normalise a product which looks very similar to other alcoholic products’ (store response pictured)