Stand by Your Man

What makes a man like Geoff Ross tick? Best ask his wife Justine who’s been by his side for 22 years. The country-music fan is his greatest admirer and an essential ingredient in this mix.

Words: Lyn Barnes  Photography: Matthew Williams

42 Below founder Geoff Ross and wife Justine
at home in Auckland.

Talking to Geoff Ross during the 42 Below Cocktail World Cup in Queenstown last September, no one would have guessed he was in the final stages of negotiating a takeover deal with Bacardi worth $138 million. Geoff and wife Justine had seen each other for only a matter of minutes after a week apart when NZ Life & Leisure arrived. They were staying at a friend’s penthouse in the plush Sofitel hotel and managed to look relaxed, even though they were hosting 42 bartenders from 10 countries for five days.

Geoff, who sometimes comes across in the media as arrogant (mainly because of his controversial ad campaigns), is quiet, introspective and polite. We ask him to put on his sparkly 42 Below cap for a photo. He obliges without a qualm. Justine arranges it for him. She’s bubbly, talkative and articulate. "Bling is as un-Geoff as you could get," she says. The couple has been together since they were teenagers at school. "He’s off a farm, you know," she says, dismissing the showy penthouse as so not them. "You need to come and photograph our home to see what we’re really like."

So we do. It soon becomes clear that Justine complements Geoff perfectly – they’re yin and yang – and one of her key self-appointed roles is as his protector. Geoff’s just back from Shanghai which he says has a "huge bar culture". Vodka’s the fastest-growing spirit in Asia at the moment whereas dark spirits are in decline. Obviously the Bacardi folk have done their research.

So how will life change for this couple, who put everything on the line to build 42 Below four years ago? Geoff doesn’t expect things to change. "We will keep travelling the path to realize the remaining part of our journey, with or without Bacardi. The difference is that with Bacardi we will get there quicker." Cool as a cucumber. But he’s obviously not always been like that. He took up meditation some years ago after his boss at DDB Advertising told him he looked stressed and shouted him a meditation course. And if he can sneak in time on or under the sea, he’s happy. Geoff intends to continue running 42 Below "exactly as I have been".

"We never see each other," quips Justine who is sitting at his knee, updating him on what their two "luscious" boys have been up to while he’s been away. They enjoy a glass of wine as they chat (they don’t drink during the week) and if there’s any time to spare when Geoff’s home and he’s not in the water, he loves just "hanging with the family". "Don’t ever underestimate him," she cautions when Geoff is out of the room. "There’s an intangible hunger at the core of him for something way bigger than anything anyone’s done before and it’s not about ego. I should be able to pinpoint it or articulate it but just when I think I’ve identified it [his essence] or understand what is driving him he goes and surprises me again."

The guesthouse in the garden.

Nevertheless, she admits she could readily have drowned him recently. The pair had invited Rich Frank – the Disney heavyweight who joined the prestigious 42 Below board alongside high-profile sailor Grant Dalton and fashion designer Karen Walker – to dinner on Waiheke Island. With Rich was the beautiful, long-legged Cynthia Garrett, sister of singer Lenny Kravitz, along with 15 other guests. Justine recounts the story: "After nibbles, Geoff disappeared down to the boatshed, took a kayak, got into full snorkelling gear and disappeared out into the misty, rainy, miserable bay for an hour and a half. He came back with a bag laden with scallops, but because I hadn’t been able to see him and it was getting quite dark, everyone was looking to me as the one who has been with him for 22 years, wondering if he was alive.

"I have spent years and years either diving with him to see where he is or waiting on the surface hoping he’ll come back. But I couldn’t bear this a moment longer, so a friend and I borrowed this shocker of a tin dinghy and rowed out into the bay on a rescue mission in pouring rain, with huge waves, just as he rowed out of the mist ahead of us. I was thinking of a lot of things I could say right then but all I said was: ‘Honey, dinner’s ready’."

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