Syrah through their partnership with Woodinville, Washington-based Columbia Winery and Master of Wine David Lake. Expanding at a significant rate, it is used to produce single-varietial wines as well as being blended with grapes such as Grenache, Cinsault, and Viognier. Syrah plantations in Argentina increased from less than in 1990 to in 2002. Syrah has occasionally been used as a blending component with Argentina's signature dark-skinned grape Malbec to provide an "Argentinian take" on the Australian Cabernet-Shiraz blend. Around 2005, there were of Syrah in Chile. Durif, or Petite Sirah, is a descendant of Syrah and Peloursin. It was propagated by
Syrah University of California, Davis used DNA typing and extensive grape reference material from the viticultural research station in Montpellier, France to conclude that Syrah was the offspring of the grape varieties Dureza (father) and Mondeuse blanche (mother). Dureza, a dark-skinned grape variety from the Ardèche region in France, has all but disappeared from the vineyards, and the preservation of such varieties is a speciality of Montpellier. Mondeuse blanche is a white grape variety cultivated in the Savoy region, and is still found in small amounts in that region's vineyards today. Both varieties are somewhat obscure today, and have never achieved