The grape has a long history in Washington State, where it known mostly as Lemberger. Here the grape has been used to produce a variety of styles from light bodied claret-style blends, higher bodied more alcoholic "Zinfandel-like" wines to port style fortified wines. The grape was a favorite of Dr. Walter Clore, the ""father of Washington wine"". He encouraged the grape's planting throughout the Yakima Valley AVA in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1976, John Williams of Kiona Vineyard in what is now the Red Mountain AVA planted a few acres that would be used in 1980 to make the first commercial Lemberger wine produced in Washington.