European Union wine growing zones total, nearly 55% was classified as table wine with 4% used in the production of grape-based distilled spirits such as Armagnac and Cognac. The remaining 41% were produced as "quality wine"-wine that produced under one of the quality wine designation in a country's appellation systems such as Germany's QmP & QbA classifications, France's "Appellation d'origine contrôlée" (AOC), Spain's "Denominación de Origen" (DO) and Italy's "Denominazione di origine controllata" (DOC) systems. In 1997, the European Union had over 3.4 million hectare (8.4 million acres) planted under vine which accounted for nearly 44% of the world's wine, table and raisin grape production.
Geographical indications and traditional specialities in the European Union colonised by the fungus "Penicillium roqueforti" that grows in these caves. This system is similar to appellation systems used throughout the world, such as the "appellation d'origine contrôlée" (AOC) used in France, the "denominazione di origine controllata" (DOC) used in Italy, the "denominação de origem controlada" (DOC) used in Portugal, the "denominación de origen" (DO) system used in Spain and the "Denumire de origine controlată" (DOC) system used in Romania. In many cases, the EU PDO/PGI system works parallel with the system used in the specified country, and in some cases is subordinated to the appellation system that was already