Wineries are busy, and no time is busier than harvest. A typical year is always a scramble, but labor shortages, pandemic restrictions, wildfires, and climate change forcing an early crush can accelerate that into a mad dash. As a result, any way to save time is appreciated. One shortcut some winemakers use is throwing dry yeast into the juice without rehydrating it (directly inoculating). It sounds innocent enough and checks a to-do item off their list faster than the hour or so it takes to rehydrate yeast. But winemakers may not realize that this technique may result in a fermentation that takes several days to start or becomes sluggish/stuck. So, they could be saving an hour only to lose days. This technique may also diminish the wine’s aromatic expression, resulting in a less fruity and flavorful wine. For example, Sauvignon blanc requires the action of yeasts during fermentation to convert the precursors in grapes to the thiols that produce the wine’s typical tropical