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
Argentine wine Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay and other international varieties are becoming more widely planted, but some varieties are cultivated characteristically in certain areas. In November 2010, the Argentine government declared wine as Argentina's national liquor. Viticulture was introduced to Argentina during the Spanish colonization of the Americas and later again by Christian missionaries. In 1556 father Juan Cedrón established the first vineyard in Argentina when cuttings from the Chilean Central Valley were brought to what is now the San Juan and Mendoza wine region, which firmly established viticulture in Argentina. Ampelographers suspect that one of these cuttings brought the ancestor grape