'Work With Me': Dan Harris Works at Von Strasser Vineyard in Napa Valley
Weekend 'GMA' anchor picks and sorts grapes.
Nov. 12, 2010 — -- Our day starts at dawn to the sound of birds singing. The tractor starts to roll through the vineyards and men are working at the vines.
This place -- in the middle of California's Napa Valley -- is the office of Mark Skinner, a man who has undergone a rather radical career change and attitude adjustment.
We were intrigued when we first received his essay. He got emotional when he read it back to me.
"This winery has made me a better father, husband and person," he read then. "Life is not always about money."
Skinner used to be a hotshot high tech executive.
"I was pretty intense," he said. "I was considered to be the meanest man by some in telecom."
From Being 'Mean' to Making Wine
It made him mean, but it made his wife -- who he met in college -- miserable. She used to work in telecom, too, and found herself frequently weeping before work.
"I quit without even having another job," she said. "I couldn't work there anymore. I was miserable. ... I wasn't the person I wanted to be, as mom or a wife."
And then a cancer scare for Lisa -- melanoma.
"She says, 'It's the bad one,'" he said. "They did a biopsy. After that, it was pretty intense."
The experience caused him to make a shift.
"I just [re-prioritized] my life," he said, adding he realized it just wasn't all about money.
The Skinners decided to slow down. They both took big pay cuts, making half of what they used to, and moved their two sons -- Scott, 17, and Nick, 20 -- to the small town of Calistoga, Calif. They haven't looked back.
Before the transformation, Mark Skinner would come home extremely grumpy because he hated firing people, Scott said. That has changed.
Mark's new gig at the small Von Strasser winery started as an entry level job. He's now the general manager.
"These people have become my family and my friends. And I really mean that," Mark Skinner said.
Not as Easy as It Looks
It's a far different world than the tough corporate environment Skinner left behind.
"It was cut-throat ... I mean, my business was," he said. "I used to deal with Quest and WorldCom, Enron. How about that?
"And now I'm picking grapes and loving life," he added.
I've come to see exactly what it is that makes Skinner so happy. He does pretty much everything here, starting at the beginning -- picking grapes.
"The idea here is to get the best bunch that you can get your knife on there and cut and drop it in the tub," he said.
They gave me a fancy yellow work shirt and a specially curved knife and I hit the vines.
"So get in there and start cutting away," Skinner said.
"You just picked a bottle of wine, Dan," he said later.
Three pounds of grapes -- that's what it takes to produce one bottle of wine.
Long Days Are Worth It
We sort the grapes and the juice that starts to seep out into vats.
"This is the way to take a bath in a cabernet, Napa Valley-style," Skinner said, describing the process of turning grapes into wine, getting the grape skins to the bottom of the tank and the juice to the top.
Once the soup is stirred, the grape skins need to be pulled out of the tanks.
It's actually harder than it looks.
Skinner, the former mean guy, is now a pretty jolly dude. In fact, his boss, the owner of the winery, said that's why he hired him.
"I think Mark is contagious in his enthusiasm towards his job and the way he treats people and the way he relates with people," Rudy Von Strasser said.
As we did a wine tasting, mixing our "GMA" blend, they taught me the delicate art of sipping without swallowing.
Skinner's work days are long -- sometimes 14 hours -- but he said the reward of contentment is worth it.
He said he has learned a valuable lesson: to "look around at what makes you happy and put that first and then maybe the job second. But I look forward to coming home and spending time with my family at the dinner table."
Change Is Good
His wife thinks the change is a good thing.
"He's much more relaxed, much more easygoing," she said.
In this new job, this dad and husband gets to head every day to the hills, where the winery dogs run free, doing a job that involves interacting with people he doesn't feel compelled to yell at.
Instead, he teaches them how to enjoy life, and a little wine, along the way.
Click HERE to learn more about the Von Strasser winery.