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Belgium sommelier Cuno Van’t Hoff was a computer expert, although he loved tasting different wines. He says that, “It took me 10 years to realize that I prefer to work with ‘living’ materials, rather than computers”.
After he had visited a huge amount of wine-producers, made shortlists with best value wines and ‘have to drink once in a lifetime’ wines for friends and relatives, he started to publish articles on the internet, and collected a massive crowd of readers. At that time, he sold his IT-businesses and turned into the wine-journalism.
“I did a lot of wine-and-oenology studies from South Africa to Australia and France. I started to write my own wine-guides, and ended with the major wine-guide in The Netherlands.” 
“Nowadays I’m one of the leading wine writers in the BeNeLux (Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxemburg). I taste approximately 7.500 wines each year. Travel all over the world where there are grapes. Write my articles for several (gastronomic, wine and consumer) magazines and a weekly column in the biggest Dutch Financial Times (Het Financieele Dagblad).”
“Next to that I’m one of the jury members in a Dutch food TV program, jury member for The International Wine Challenge in London and Tokyo. I teach hotel-school students and sommeliers. And I do consultancy for major hotel-chains, airlines, restaurants and bars”.

What do you bear in mind when it comes to recommending a pairing between wines and Habanos?
The most important aspect when it comes to pairing Habanos and wine is texture. The mouth feeling of both products. On one hand white wines can have a soft, silky, creamy texture, with tasty acidity. On the other hand reds can have an astringent feeling, spicy with bitters and tannins.
That’s exactly the same feeling what Habanos and vitolas can cause in your mouth. Soft and silky on one hand. Bitters and spices, some acidity and tannins on the other hand. With pairing, the question is what do you want to achieve. Balance? In that case you are going to look for an agreement between the two. Soft and creamy. Or contrast. Powerful and spicy. Two examples when it comes to balance: Light, easy-going and digestible white wines are a perfect companion with, for example, the relatively mild Montecristo Open series or a nice Hoyo de Monterrey. Heavy, mouth feeling and spicy reds work in a perfect way together with for example a full-bodied Cohiba, Partagas, Bolivar or Ramon Alklones. 

What would you suggest to pair with a Habano brand like Trinidad?
Trinidad has a medium to full bodied taste. Spicy, some coffee and chocolate aroma’s. A well-balanced good quality Bordeaux red will do. Keep in mind, it needs roundabout 50/50 Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot grapes, and maybe a tiny bit of Petit Verdot/Cabernet Franc in it. No overdose of oak. This will give enough power for the Trinidad, some fruity aspects, spicy and a little bit of mushroom/coffee. Delicious marriage!