Domaine de Courbissac Roc du Piere and Fiona Apple's Fetch the Bolt Cutters
The comfort of a front porch on a wet, gray fall day is the perfect setting for Fiona Apple’s “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” paired with Domaine de Courbissac’s Roc du Piere. It’s an inviting, if moody, overcast that fits right in with the unruly exuberance of this wine and record. A lightness and heaviness mingle in the best way.
In just four words, the “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” title poetically and succinctly explains its theme. In this musical masterpiece, Fiona Apple liberates herself from confinement by lifting the heavy chains that restrict her. The world outside is anything but weightless, but she moves—sometimes trudges—about it freely.
Brunnhilde Claux is a talented winemaker who farms old grape vines on the rugged, rocky hillsides of Minervois in the Languedoc region of Southern France. The climate is semi-Mediterranean at Domaine de Courbissac where the vineyards are situated by the La Montagne Noire mountain range in close proximity to the ocean.
Brunnhilde Claux (courtesy of European Cellars)
In this region known more for good value, everyday table wines, Brunnhilde makes deep, rich and memorable wines that stand out in the Languedoc and can compete with more famous, more expensive chateaus in Chateauneuf du Pape and the esteemed villages of the Northern Rhone.
The 2014 Roc du Piere has a lot to unpack. On the nose, intense aromas of blackberry and black cherry, bramble, wildflower, roasted coffee bean, black pepper and the faintest hint of barnyard emanate. The combination of clay limestone, gravel and sandstone soil with the high altitude terroir result in a layered, rustic wine that’s juicy, fresh and lifted. It’s dry but ripe, tannic but smoothe, and has a finish for days.
Brunnhilde and Fiona forged their own territory within viticultural and musical landscapes. Brunnhilde brings her own approach to winemaking in the Languedoc, farming a strenuous terrain, resulting in stunning wines that stand out in the region. Domaine de Courbissac produces several different wines, and the Roc du Piere is considered their premier cru, a designation that doesn't exist in the Languedoc, but the vineyard sites and wine itself deliver the same quality.
Domaine de Courbissac (courtesy of European Cellars)
Fiona may have taken eight years to produce a new album, and seven years in between the previous two, but the accumulated passion, pain and wisdom are palpable in each work, reflected in far-reaching acclaim and influence. She has an unwavering presence and defiance—of patriarchal bullshit and genre pigeonholing—with every lyric, note and idea she emits.
Immediately, this complexity, this contrast of brightness with dark undertones comes through on FTBC’s opening track, “I Want You To Love Me”. The piano is at once cheerful and brooding, and the touch of bitterness in the wine coalesce with Fiona’s growling vocals and biting lyrics.
“Shameika” is begging to be on a movie soundtrack. In fact, the music and narrative lyrics of the song are like its own mini film score. The piano and percussion feel like their own characters, in addition to Fiona and Shameika—the one decent kid among all the bullies growing up.
The title track appropriately gets to the core of the album. The relaxed tone confidently communicates the message of freeing yourself from constraint and insecurity, “whatever happens”. This finds Fiona in a state of enlightenment and at last ready to take on whatever ugliness and injustice that will inevitably come her way.
Whether or not she faced the same adversity, which wouldn’t be shocking in a male-dominated wine industry, Brunnhilde has also found her rhythm and is in her element in Minervois. “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” ends with a cacophonous chorus of dogs barking, as a result of the home recording. This spontaneous, organic integration totally vibes with the natural winemaking methods of Domaine de Courbissac.
Fiona’s outbursts are among the greatest moments of the record, for example: the chorus of “Relay”:
I resent you for being raised right
I resent you for being tall
I resent you for never getting any opposition at all
I resent you for having each other
I resent you for being so sure
I resent you presenting your life like a fucking propaganda brochure
Also, on “Heavy Balloon”, a work of art that starts out with a hypnotic, jazzy beat poetry vibe, Fiona launches into an impassioned declaration: “I spread like strawberries/ I climb like peas and beans/ I’ve been sucking it in so long/ That I’m busting at the seams.”
These messages are like a chain of explosions, and it’s exhilarating.
“Cosmonauts” is not only a deeply textured song, it’s also a clear intersection of “Fetch the Bolt Cutters” and Roc du Piere. It’s about being tethered with someone, for better or worse, and how that experience changes over time: “You and I will be a couple of cosmonauts/ Except for more gravity than when we started off”—a.k.a. relationships. This bottle captures that idea of tempered buoyancy. It’s surprisingly high-toned for a syrah/mourvedre blend, but with the weight and power you crave from it.
Like Fiona and the entirety of “Fetch the Bolt Cutters”, Brunnhilde is fearless and honest—two qualities reflected in the Roc du Piere. Their nuances and quirks are on display, from Fiona’s Dylan-esque fumbles and imperfections to the wild expression of the Roc du Piere grapes and the earth on which they’re grown.
On both projects, each artist is totally free to express their vision through their work, and they do so in all their raw, transparent glory. And, for us on the receiving end, we love to see it.
