Millionaire sues company after 'faulty fridge made £1m wine collection go mouldy'

The bespoke clothier, who keeps a 20,000-bottle wine collection spread across properties in London and Germany, alleges that wine chillers fitted in his £8million Marylebone flat in 2021 were defective.

At the heart of the dispute is a gap of just 1cm in the doors of three cooling units, which Mr Reimer says permitted warm air to infiltrate and cool air to leak out.

This, he contends, triggered condensation and mould that devastated his London wine holdings.

The 1,500 bottles stored at his Marylebone residence included prestigious "first growth" clarets from Bordeaux and the Rhône Valley.

Among the most valuable were bottles of 1982 Château Mouton Rothschild, worth upwards of £1,000 each, and 2012 Petrus, which commands prices exceeding £2,000 a bottle.

Mr Reimer claims the mould growth on labels and the likelihood of some vintages becoming corked has drastically diminished the collection's worth.

A Millionaire is suing a company after a 'faulty fridge made £1million wine collection go mouldy' (stock image)

GETTY

He is seeking roughly £500,000 for the reduction in value, plus an additional £50,000 in associated costs and losses.

According to experts, rare wines with damaged labels fetch significantly less on the collectors' market, as buyers fear the wine itself may also have been compromised.

The Croydon-based supplier, International Food Services Equipment, which specialises in restaurant design, is vigorously contesting the claim.

The company installed the wine cooling system, comprising glass sliding doors and remote condensers, for approximately £23,000.

Among the most valuable were bottles of Petrus, worth around £2,000

GETTY

Defence barrister Matthew Winn-Smith told the judge: "The defendant did not design the wine fridge door system it is simply part of a standard unit and the air gap complained of is a necessary element of a properly functioning sliding door system."

He argued the firm would almost certainly have declined the contract had it known the fridges were intended to house wine worth £1million.

The defence instead attributes the damage to the coolers being switched off because they were too noisy for a residential setting.

Mr Reimer denies having turned off the coolers to appease neighbours.

The 1,500 bottles stored at his Marylebone residence included prestigious clarets from Bordeaux and the Rhône Valley (stock image)

GETTY

As his barrister put it, the "constant exchange of warm and cold air" produced temperature swings that proved fatal for units required to hold a steady 12-13C.

He maintains that noise and vibration from the condensers reached "excessive" levels because the equipment was forced to work far harder than it should have, driven by the relentless demand the gap placed on the system.

The defence countered that had the fridges remained operational, refrigeration and moisture levels would have been adequate, preventing any condensation damage to the bottle labels.

The trial is continuing.