Laurie O'Brien

In 1976, a small American winery bested the exalted French wines of the time and sent the wine industry into a tizzy – putting California wines on the map for good. Based on a true story, Bottle Shock chronicles the events leading up to the famous ‘Judgment of Paris’ tastings, told through the lives of father and son, Jim and Bo Barrett.

In this tale about the early days of Napa Valley's success, the Montelena Winery challenges France's status as the world's top wine producer.

Two women who don't look at all alike find out they have an unfortunate amount in common in this independent comedy drama. Lydia (Deidra Edwards) is a woman in her early thirties who lives and works in Venice Beach, CA, a place where appearance counts for a lot. Lydia is more than a little overweight, and she's a member of a "Fat Acceptance Group," a support organization where plus-sized women gather to discuss their emotional issues and their desire for the world to understand them at face value. One day, a new face appears at the group's weekly meeting -- Darcy (Staci Lawrence), a strikingly slender woman who informs the regulars that she's a recovering anorexic who wants to attend because despite her size, she still sees herself as fat. While the leader of the group rejects Darcy, Lydia strikes up a friendship with her, and as they get to know one another they come to understand their unique anxieties about their bodies. Lydia has begun a tentative romance with a stocky but likable man named Bob (Ryan C. Benson), who wants a woman who won't judge him for his girth, but when she learns he's planning to have gastric bypass surgery in a final bid to lose weight, she's afraid he'll leave her behind and makes an unusual request to Darcy -- lessons in how to become anorexic. Disfigured was the first directorial assignment for screenwriter Glenn Gers.

The story of the early days of California wine making featuring the now infamous, blind Paris wine tasting of 1976 that has come to be known as "judgment of Paris."