I'm fairly new to this but why do some recipes call for you to add activated yeast & others do not? I've tried several recipes just dumping the pack in & have had no problems at all.
Pitching without re-hydrating in wine is just wrong. The primary ferment is really important to avoid off-flavours like H2S or worse. If you re-hydrate and use a little yeast nutrient you can be fairly confident you will have a healthy fermentation.