JETSETREPORT

Segera-owner opens personal estate in Santa Fe

August 03, 2015 08.17 AM

Although you've likely never heard of Rancho Alegre, this New Mexico property is about to emerge as one of the world's great private estates along the lines of Richard Branson's Necker Island, Sir James Goldsmith's Cuixmala and Dietrich Mateschitz's Laucala. But in this case it's Jochen Zeitz, the former CEO of Puma and Wilderness Safari's board member that expanded his African home to become Kenya's monumental Segera Retreat. And this time it's his 11,000-sqaure foot Santa Fe estate, hidden away on 177 acres of quintessential Southwestern ranch land that's now for the first time available for private bookings.

Immersed in local architectural and artistic influence, Rancho Alegre was designed by William F. Tull - the foremost designer of adobe structures in the southwest. A long gated and secured entrance leads to a Hackberry-lined road lined in water patches and bronze sculptures from Zeitz's impressive Native American art collection. At the crest of a hill, the perimeter of a single-story adobe compound is meticulously landscaped with native flora and blooming succulents. Inside, Arizona flagstone crosses into 100-year wood plank floors that meander through rooms with 20-foot ceilings adorned in handmade beams with modern living spaces adorned in curated antiques and more of that incredible Zeitz art collection.

What feel likes a native village, the 11,000-square foot residence is only part of a larger infrastructure of a traditional plaza with its own Torreon, chapel, cantina and Western-style general store. Nearby, an additional 4-bedroom ranch houses the property's equestrian facilities that includes12 stables, a barn and roping arena. Even here, Zeitz's impressive collection Western and Native American artwork is omnipresent. Working the estate is a hotel-level service staff that tends to each meal as if a production; each location for dinner and lunch is curated to the day and weather with regional menu inspired by the seasons. As for booking, Rancho Alegre is managed privately and so hush-hush that it doesn't even have a website - each reservation is tended personally via email. Like his Segera that lies half a world away, Zeitz's Rancho Alegre offers a glimpse of style and hospitality as it should be whether in the vast Wild West or remote bush of East Africa.

Written by:

Michael Martin
Editorial Review Author
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