Kix Brooks has found a passion beyond music - wine making at his winery in Tennessee. (Handout)

When Kix Brooks offers you a taste of his delicious raspberry wine, think of Faith Hill.

After all, it was a gift from Hill and husband Tim McGraw years ago that lead to Brooks opening a winery in Williamson County, near Nashville.

"In the singer crowd, there's a lot of people into wine," Brooks said. "Faith and Tim gave my wife Barbara and me two bottles of wine from different countries every month for a present."

The wines selected by Hill and McGraw were the inspiration for Brooks to open Arrington Vineyards in 2007.

One half of Brooks and Dunn, the biggest-selling country music duo in history, the 52-year-old Kix Brooks has time to savour fine wines since he and Ronnie Dunn retired their group last year.

With winemaker Kip Summers and grapes largely brought in from California's Napa Valley, a lineup of 13 reds, whites and dessert wines was launched, each of which passes Brooks' personal taste test. Not to be missed is Arrington's raspberry dessert wine paired with raspberry truffles from Nashville's Cocoa Tree.

Arrington started by producing 6,000 cases in its first year and now bottles 20,000 cases annually. The wine is sold on site, in Tennessee stores and online for $18 to $50 a bottle.

"I'm really proud of the wines," said the Louisiana-born Brooks, who now lives near Arrington. "It's a nice cross-section."

Vines have been planted on the rolling hills of the winery property to provide a local harvest of grapes.

Before prohibition, Tennessee was the third leading wine-producing region in the United States, trailing only California and New York.

Open for tastings year-round, Arrington comes alive in the warmer weather with jazz on the weekends and the hillsides filled with couples and families enjoying picnic lunches, which can be pre-ordered from Henpeck Market in nearby Franklin.

Very involved in operations, Brooks is often found on site, sometimes on the chalet deck playing a guitar he keeps at the winery.

"It's me and friends in the business, just guitars, no vocals so people don't feel they have to stop and focus on the music," Brooks said. "They're there to enjoy the wine."

While other celebrities who own wineries -- including hockey icon Wayne Gretzky or golf great Mike Weir, who each have wineries in Niagara -- put their names front and centre on their product, Brooks is more subtle. The winery is named Arrington for a nearby community and only one wine -- a cabernet labelled KB 308 -- carries any hint of a connection to Brooks.

"I think subtle is good in the wine business," Brooks said.

Just as Brooks' dessert wines can be paired with chocolates, a visit to Arrington can be paired with a stop in nearby historic downtown Franklin, the seat of Williamson County. Franklin, often described as a "Mayberry-like" American town, was the scene of a major Civil War battle with thousands of casualties and four generals killed. The town square pays homage to the war, and there are three Civil War museums nearby: Carnton Plantation, Carter House and Lotz House.

If You Go

Arrington Vineyards is at 6211 Patton Rd., Arrington, TN. Don't miss tasting the raspberry and blackberry dessert wines. For more, see arringtonvineyards.com. Franklin is about 25 minutes south of Nashville off I-65. Don't miss the Civil War cemetery at Carnton Plantation. See visitwilliamson.com.