No Investors, Pure Grit: How Jeff Mausbach Built One of Argentina's Top Wines, Mil Suelos

No Investors, Pure Grit: How Jeff Mausbach Built One of Argentina's Top Wines, Mil Suelos

From The Zonda Wine Podcast by Zonda Wine Services

March 20, 2026 · 41 min · Season 2 · Episode 5

About this episode

Jeff Mausbach shares his journey from Nebraska to becoming a co-founder of Mil Suelos, one of Argentina's top wineries.

Jeff Mausbach's lift changing wine was a bottle of Giacomo Conterno. A young kid scrapping for extra cash in the busy restaurant scene of Chicago, he took one sip and got hooked. Born and raised in Nebraska then studying in Chicago, Jeff was nowhere near wine country. But when he fell in love with an Argentinean during his European travels, destiny took him to his wife's hometown of Buenos Aires, Argentina. With only his taste for fine wine and a few words of Spanish in his back pocket, he convinced legendary vintner Nicolas Catena to bring him on, kickstarting a lifelong journey in wine. In 2010, Jeff co-founded ' Mil Suelos ' with award-winning viticulturist Alejandro Sejanovich and Jorge Crotta. With a handful of savings, an old vineyard purchase, and a dream of capturing Argentina's most iconic sites, they set off to produce wines of extraordinary caliber from Uco Valley, Mendoza to Jujuy's 10,000 foot vineyards. As Mil Suelos celebrates 15 years, a recent tasting of their first vintages reveals the wines' superior quality and aging potential. This is Jeff Mausbach's incredible story from the midwest to the Andes Mountains.

People in this episode

Guest: Jeff Mausbach

Topics covered

  • wine
  • Argentina
  • entrepreneurship
  • viticulture

Keywords

  • Mil Suelos
  • Nicolas Catena
  • Uco Valley
  • Mendoza
  • Jujuy

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Mil Suelos, Giacomo Conterno, Mil Suelos wine

Places: Argentina, Chicago, Nebraska, Buenos Aires, Uco Valley, Mendoza, Jujuy, the Andes Mountains

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