I first met Justin when he worked at Uva in Brooklyn just about 20 years ago; Uva at the time being essentially a closet-sized space in Williamsburg’s Bedford Avenue mini-mall. We both fell into wine accidentally, almost surprised where we had ended up. Overjoyed mind you, but also surprised.
Justin had his own path, with Zev through natural wine. I went a different way, selling expensive bottles in midtown, falling in love with German wine. Yet we kept in touch; smiles and hugs when we saw each other at random events.
Over the last five years we became close, though I know one of Justin’s many gifts was to make everyone feel like you were his best friend. He was just so utterly, profoundly kind and open. Here was one of – and this is no exaggeration – the absolutely most influential buyers in the U.S. (in the world?), and he would treat everyone with honesty and generosity. I have met few people as deeply empathetic as Justin. He would apologize, with absolute sincerity, to sales people when he just couldn’t make the time.
The very easy truth is that Justin was one of the greatest of our generation; he has forever changed the trajectory of the world of wine, so much for the better. I do not believe this is an exaggeration. He was a visionary regarding natural wine; he scoured Paris and befriended the landscape of chefs and sommeliers there a good decade before it became a right of passage for any young wine student. The Four Horsemen changed – and continues to change – conceptions of what a restaurant or wine bar can and should be. It makes something very complicated seem easy, natural, graceful. In so many ways, this is Justin.
But amidst all of this professional passion and success, Justin smiled the widest and the deepest when talking about his son and his wife. I can’t say I know Stacy or Felix, but I feel like I do. Justin and I travelled together through Germany for a week this past March, just the two of us crammed in a car so small that we had to put my luggage in the back seat (both pieces wouldn’t fit in the trunk). It was a brilliant fucking trip; we drank some fucking great wine… and I’d guess we spent 95% of our time talking about our sons, both about the same age, both silly about basketball. Justin would talk about the simplest things he and Felix did together like they were holy moments of absolute bliss. Often it felt like he was just talking about his best friend.
In a way, Justin was a father figure to so many of us in the wine world; it makes sense that fatherhood seemed to me his greatest joy.
The whole team at vom Boden is heartbroken. We send our deepest condolences to Felix, Stacy, Justin’s entire family, and everyone at the Four Horsemen. We were so lucky to have known Justin; we will not forget him.