Justin Chearno’s legend lives on at The Four Horsemen, New York
Accepting the joint award for the Best Medium-Sized List in New York last week, Will Piper broke down on stage. Having worked at New York’s Four Horsemen since its opening in 2015, Piper was not just accepting a Gold Star for himself, or for the team, but for his former boss, the late Justin Chearne, who established the wine bar with LCD Soundsystem’s James Murphy, plus Christina Topsøe and Randy Moon.
The Four Horsemen is a bastion of natural and minimal-intervention wine. Since opening just over a decade ago, it has changed New York’s vinous landscape and become an international wine destination. In 2024, one of its four eponymous founders passed away, making last week’s Star Wine List of the Year awards event particularly poignant for current Wine Director Will Piper, who now carries the torch.
“I definitely am going on Justin’s shoulders!” Piper exclaimed on stage at the Suntory Global Spirits HQ last week, where Star Wine List’s Founder, Krister Bengtsson and New York City Ambassador, Wanda Mann awarded Gold Stars to the best wine lists in the wider metropolitan area.
This year, there were two winners of the Best Medium-Sized List category in New York, with a Gold Star also going to Michael Laudenslager of Nolita’s Peasant. The Four Horsemen, located in Williamsburg, was praised by judge Yannick Benjamin as a “New York institution that continues to evolve without losing its soul. The wine list is imaginative and vibrant, showcasing a side of Italy that challenges convention and introduces New York drinkers to regions and expressions beyond the expected.”
“I’m super lucky that I’ve got all the people who work at the restaurant,” said Piper. “And almost every other person has been there for at least five years – they do the hard work.”
Piper later explained to Krister Bengtsson that “the first page of the wine list starts with a dedication to our former Wine Director, who set the page and really changed a lot of what the landscape of wine is in New York. So it was nice to, I don’t know, be able to reflect on that. And I didn’t think it was going to be so emotionally charged, but it’s really his work that got us here.”
Bengtsson took the opportunity to ask how the wine scene in Brooklyn is looking.
“Talking to a lot of producers in Europe, they’re very concerned about the downturn in the market,” says Piper. “But we’re not really feeling it as much here. NA is a big discussion (non-alcoholic) but I think people are drinking, they’re drinking well, so it’s a difficult time in the world, but people drink in good times and people drink in bad times. So, yeah.”
Trend-wise, he says that “everything chilled, everything cold, everything refreshing is the mode right now. So many young drinkers that we get don’t have a lot of points of reference. And it’s interesting to see – they might not know that something’s not cool, or that it’s fallen out of favour, so they’re open to it, which is nice.
“One of the guys here, from Atera, he referenced Bordeaux being a big change and rediscovering Bordeaux, and I’m kind of on that path. We’re also doing more with Galicia, Eastern Europe, Portugal – these are kind of pet projects of mine.”
Next up, Will’s got his eyes on the Sustainability Prize, which has been taken by Chambers’ Pasacaline Lepeltier for the past three years.
“I’m moved by the sustainability award,” he says. “I think that I’m noticing that we’ve had a natural list for a long time, but I like that the award asks for more than just, you know, natural wine, biodynamic wine, non/low intervention wine. And it’s got me thinking about what else we can do around the restaurant to make it more friendly and more sustainable.”
But first, it’s the Star Wine List of the Year Global Final, this June. Hosted by Terra Skåne, this event will gather the international Gold Star sommelier teams from across the world for one final showdown, whilst exploring Sweden’s winemaking countryside.
“Southern Sweden in June? It sounds perfect,” says Will. “I’ve heard there’s good cycling in southern Sweden – maybe I’ll bring my bicycle.”
Meet all the winners from Star Wine List of the Year New York 2026.
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