Oregon, Texas and Virginia. In the US, the style of Mourvèdre tends to be less tannic than Old World examples such as Bandols. In Washington State, the grape was first planted at Red Willow Vineyard in the Yakima Valley AVA in 1983. The 1990s and 2000s saw an increase of plantings of the variety, most notably at Alder Ridge Vineyard and Destiny Ridge Vineyard in the Horse Heaven Hills AVA and Ciel du Cheval Vineyard in the Red Mountain AVA. In Washington, the grape is used in both varietal and Rhone-style blends where it provides a medium body structure with cherry fruit flavors as well smokey, spicy and gamy notes. In California, Mourvèdre reached the United States in the 1860s as part of the Pellier collection and was likely first planted in Santa Clara County. The variety, known as Mataro, was widely planted in anonymous field blends that was used primarily for bulk produced jug wines. From the middle of the 20th century, it saw its plantings rapidly decline from more than 2700 acres in 1968 to less than a third of that by the 2000s. Its numbers would have declined more drastically had the variety not captured the interest of Rhone Rangers in the 1980s and 90s, who began seeking out old-vine plantings of the variety in vineyards Contra Costa County. On the heels of some critically acclaimed varietal and Rhone-style blends (as well as the introduction of better quality clones) featuring Mourvèdre, plantings in California rose slightly from 260 ha (650 acres) at the turn of the 21st century to 900 acres in 2010. There are around 12 square kilometres of Mourvèdre in Australia, where it is also known as Mataro, though more producers have begun adopting the French name Mourvèdre. While the grape has a long history of being used for generic cask wines and fortified wine, it has recently become more popular in highly acclaimed GSM blends with Grenache and Syrah. Like many grape varieties, Mourvèdre was first introduced to Australia as part of James Busby's collection of cuttings from his European travels in the 1830s. There it was quickly established in the South Australia wine region of the Barossa Valley by Lutheran immigrants from the Silesia Province in Prussia. From there it was spread by English immigrants to the McLaren Vale region south of Adelaide. Some of the oldest continually producing vines of Mourvèdre are