Pavarotti's tailor caused his own £1million French wine collection to go mouldy by turning off 'noisy' fridges after neighbours complained, judge rules - as he is handed £110k court bill

Published: 11:03, 30 July 2026 | Updated: 11:21, 30 July 2026 A master tailor who dressed opera star Luciano Pavarotti will have to pay a court £110,000 after it found he ruined his own million-pound wine collection by turning off his noisy fridges when neighbours complained. Suitmaker and wine connoisseur Tom Reimer had sued a kitchen fitting company for £550,000, claiming leaky fridges in his luxury £8million flat caused the collection to go mouldy. The multimillionaire claimed that a one centimetre gap between fridge doors had let in air and caused the collection to go mouldy. But a judge has thrown out his case and handed him a £110,000 court bill after finding that he repeatedly switched off the power to his custom-designed wine wall when neighbours complained about it causing 'noise' and 'vibrations' in their adjoining apartment. Much of Mr Reimer's collection was made up of prized 'first growth' clarets from Bordeaux as well as expensive bottles from the Rhône Valley region of France. These included bottles of 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, which can sell for more than £1,500.  This red wine famously earned legendary American wine critic Robert Parker's first 100 out of 100 score and has a rare signed label painted by John Huston, who famously wrote and directed the 1941 classic film noir The Maltese Falcon.  The fridges also housed bottles of 2012 Chateau Petrus Pomerol, which sell for between £2,500 and £3,600. The wine is highly prized because just 30,000 bottles a year are produced from the small 28-acre vineyard just east of Bordeaux.  Multimillionaire tailor Tom Reimer will have to pay £110,000 after ruining his own £1 million wine collection Mr Reimer's collection included bottles of this Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1982 that had developed mould on the labels. The fine wine can sell for more than £1,500 and have a rare signed 60th anniversary label A mouldy bottle of Chateau Petrus Pomerol 2012, which retails for up to £3,500,  has also featured in the court case Master tailor Mr Reimer is a wine lover with a 20,000-strong collection of prime bottles, kept at his homes in London and Germany.  Mr Reimer had claimed the value of his collection in London was wrecked due to faults with three custom-made chillers making up a refrigerated 'wine wall' and installed as part of a refurb of his £8million apartment in The Regent, Marylebone, in 2021. The cooling system, designed to maintain a temperature of 12 to 13 Celsius, featured glass sliding doors and remote condensers, and was fitted at a cost to Mr Reimer of about £23,000. Croydon-based International Food Services Equipment said Mr Reimer was responsible for any damage to the labels, insisting that the doors had no more than a 'hairline' gap – and were installed to industry standard.  The company installs kitchens and fridges in some of the most exclusive restaurants, cafés and private homes in the UK.  The firm submitted that there was 'nothing wrong' with the fridges, adding: 'The only "problem" with them is that they caused Mr Reimer's neighbour to complain.' The company's barrister, Matthew Winn-Smith, argued that any damage to the wine probably resulted from Mr Reimer himself 'turning off the wine fridges because they were too noisy for his residential setting'. Mr Reimer did so because he was 'under considerable pressure' from his landlord and neighbours over noise from the wine coolers and their condenser units, claimed the barrister. Mr Winn-Smith added: 'The real cause of the damaged wine bottle labels is that the condensers were turned off by Mr Reimer, his agents or some other third party.  'That they were turned off on at least two observed occasions is an admitted fact...The motivation for turning them off is apparent.'  The tailor accepted that he twice turned off the fridges himself but Judge Sarah Ellington found that it was 'significantly more times'. She said Mr Reimer had acted 'unreasonably' in turning off the units without first notifying his suppliers. Judge Ellington said in her ruling: 'I find that it was unreasonable to just turn them off. 'He could have moved the wine into storage while (the units) were being replaced, he could have given notice to International Food Services that he felt he would need to turn the units off.' Three custom made chillers making up a refrigerated 'wine wall' were installed as part of a refurb of his £8m apartment in The Regent, Marylebone, in 2021  Mr Reimer's £8million luxury flat in Marylebone where he stored his expensive wine collection The cooler units had been disposed of, which the judge said made it impossible to form a clear idea about the size of any gap on the doors. She said the available photographic evidence didn't support Mr Reimer's case. 'I find as a fact that this was not a 1cm gap by reference to that photograph,' she told the court, adding that there was a lack of evidence about fluctuations of fridge temperature at the time when the damage was alleged to have been done. Even with a 1cm gap present, the fridges should have carried on functioning effectively, Judge Ellington ruled. 'Even if I am wrong that there was a gap of 1cm, that would be wholly irrelevant to the operation of the system,' she told the court, also finding that there was no evidence to show that the wine coolers were 'not suitable' for commercial grade installation. Mr Reimer, a scion of a wealthy German family, carved out a highly lucrative career as a top tailor in Hamburg, where in the 1990s his company kitted out Pavarotti with a white silk tailcoat as a contrast to his customary black tails and white tie.