MUSIC

Aaron Tippin turns hit song into sweet cherry wine

Cindy Watts
The Tennessean

Aaron Tippin sings his own songs, flies his own planes and, more than 20 years ago, he decided to make his own wine.

Aaron Tippin will play the Grand Ole Opry on Friday.

Inspired by his father-in-law, Tippin and his wife, Thea, started dabbling in winemaking at home. They worked their way up to making about 80 gallons at a time before the country singer teamed with Stonehaus Winery in 2015 for a blackberry wine to commemorate his 25th anniversary as an entertainer. When there was another opportunity to work with Stonehaus, Tippin jumped at the chance.

The result — his “Kiss This” Sweet Cherry Wine — has been in stores since November and will be served at Ryman Auditorium on Friday night when Tippin performs on the Grand Ole Opry. 

In addition, Tippin will bring his wine to the Wildhorse Saloon on Dec. 30 for the venue’s Taste of Tennessee event. From 4 to 8 p.m., 13 distilleries — including Stonehaus Winery — will be represented, their spirits paired with a dish selected by the saloon’s chef. Tippin plans to pour drinks and snap selfies with fans.

“What’s great about Aaron is he doesn’t leave a show or a signing until the last person has got a picture or an autograph,” said Stonehaus Winery Vice President Rob Ramsey. “It’s not an act. He loves his fans, and he remembers all of these people.”

Thanks to his father-in-law, Tippin loves wine, too. As a self-described “Mr. Do-it-yourselfer,” Tippin started visiting shops that specialized in at-home winemaking and soon began buying the juice, crushing his own fruit and making wine. It was a process the Tippins continued for years until Thea met up with Ramsey’s wife, Jane, at church.

Aaron Tippin's "Kiss This" Sweet Cherry Wine is available now through Stonehaus Winery.

The Ramseys and Tippins live in the same town and are members of the same congregation. The women cooked up the idea for the partnership. The plan worked well because in addition to it being Tippin’s 25th anniversary, Stonehaus was also celebrating its 25th anniversary. Due to time constraints, Tippin couldn’t start the winemaking process from scratch with Stonehaus. Instead, he visited the winery, sampled all of its wines and decided the blackberry would resonate most with his fan base. Then he barrel-selected the batch he wanted to be branded as Aaron Tippin’s Country Jam. 

For the “Kiss This” Sweet Cherry Wine, Tippin was the co-winemaker and the winery’s first guest vintner. The process of making the wine took more than one year.
“This is real Aaron Tippin right here,” said the singer, known for hits including “Blue Angel,” “You’ve Got to Stand for Something” and, of course, "Kiss This." “It’s either yay or nay.”

Tippin said the process of making the cherry wine was “pretty much the same” as what he did while making wine at home — just at a much higher volume. Around 6,500 bottles were produced of the “Kiss This” Sweet Cherry Wine, and Tippin touched almost all of them. 

“The processes are magnified 100 times,” he said. “You’ve just got to get everything right, the mixing and the taking it from container to container, to fermentation and blending it. I had never been to this stage of the game. It’s highly professional, and man, it’s really cool to just be a part of. They let me be very hands on.”

Tippin and Ramsey had several conversations about flavors before they settled on strawberry or cherry. They made up mini batches to see which smelled and tasted the best. Tippin said both were great, but as soon as he tasted the cherry, it “stood up and said, ‘I’m the one.’ ”

The men ordered the juice and prepared it for fermentation. Ramsey said wines were often blended for flavor but that Tippin’s was pure cherry.

“We didn’t want to make something that tasted like Kool-Aid or a Life Saver,” he explained. “This tastes like your grandmother’s cobbler. It’s got that tartness on the finish so it pairs perfectly with any sort of chocolate dessert.”

Tippin was involved in every step of the process — filtering and bottling the wine as well as helping to swap out the billboard advertising for his “Kiss This” Sweet Cherry Wine on the side of Interstate 40. Later, he sampled and served the first bottle.

Ramsey and Tippin agree their partnership will continue. Tippin said they will make more blackberry and cherry wine and that he’s seriously considering making a state bottle of muscadine wine. Tippin owns a muscadine vineyard near Center Hill Lake.

“There are three or four ideas in the hopper that are completely different and even different processes,” Ramsey said. “People have asked if we would ever do a wine with any other artist. It would have to be the right person. And Aaron is the right person.”

Reach Cindy Watts at ciwatts@tennessean.com or 615-664-2227 and on Twitter @CindyNWatts.

If you go

What: Grand Ole Opry featuring Aaron Tippin, Jason Crabb and Linda Davis

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Where: Ryman Auditorium, 116 Fifth Ave. N. in Nashville

Tickets: Start at $38 at www.opry.com