A head start on the growing season has added a little more risk for area vineyards.
Environment Canada issued a frost advisory for the region Sunday night, with temperatures expected to dip to at least -3C with the wind chill.
Tom O'Brien is the co-owner of Harrow's Coopers Hawk Winery. He says warm weather allowed wineries to plant a few weeks early this year and planting early means more chance of frost damage.
"This is probably a little bit earlier than normal, only because we've already had a lot of heat," he says. "We love the heat; we love it dry, but once they're there [new vines] we really don't need those below freezing temperatures."
He says it's the second time in the last week wine makers across Essex County have had to protect their vineyards.
"We should be seeing buds break and burst or even leaf break by Friday, so we'd know within a matter of five days whether or not there was some damage," he says. "There'll be some damage because every plant is different depending on the health of it, the soil, when it shut down for the winter time."
Temperatures are expected to climb Monday and stay above freezing for the rest of the week.
O'Brien says he's optimistic plants will recover with the warm weather ahead.
"The harvest we're going to get this year for all the wineries in Essex County, we're going to have some great wine as long as we get through last night's frost without too much damage," he added.
If younger vines survive Sunday night's frost, O'Brien says they should be strong enough to make it through the rest of the spring.