Although evidence has been found of pre-historic vines and of the production of "Rhaetian" wines in the Roman period in the area around the colony of Brixia, true Franciacorta winemaking actually begins only with the Lombard hegemony in the 6th century AD, and in particular in the early 9th century with the agrarian reforms promoted by Charlemagne. The establishment of a viable winemaking culture, however, must be credited, as mentioned earlier, to the monastic foundations, largely of Cluniac inspiration. In addition to erecting splendid abbeys such as that of Rodengo, they devoted their efforts to clearing and creating fertile farmlands, thus contributing to the development of viticulture. They also established the independent status of the towns, or the "Francae Curtes," exempt from payment of commercial duties.

The historian Gabriele Archetti, in his extensive study, Tempus vindemie - per la storia delle vigne e del vino nell'Europa medievale (Brescia 1998), devotes a chapter significantly entitled "Una terra vocata: la Franciacorta" (Franciacorta: an ideal land for vineyards) to the spread of viticulture between the 9th and 11th centuries, and points out that even in those times the vineyards were laid out on well-exposed hillslopes, sometimes terraced, in accordance with a specific belief that "quality" wines, ones with good structure, distinctiveness, and ageability, would result from such siting, compared to vineyards in the plains. Thank to the push provided by the Cluniac monks, vineyard cultivation practices improved, as did those of winemaking: sturdier winepresses were constructed, and various-sized barrels were utilised for vinification and transport to market.

The ampelographic repertoire of Franciacorta grape varieties at that time was quite different from that of today. It underwent even more change in the late 19th century, when the phylloxera plague hit here too. The predominant varieties were Schiava, Groppello, Nostrano, Malvasia, Moscatello, and Vernaccia, but there was as yet no trace of Pinot Noir (white or red) or of Chardonnay. But one practice had begun to take root that centuries later would make Franciacorta famous: the custom of making "biting" (mordaci) wines, that is, re-fermented and fizzy. As the American wine writer Burton Anderson observed in his book Franciacorta: Un territorio, un vino (Milano, 1999), "production methods were somewhat approximate and results unpredictable since reliable stabilisation procedures had not been developed.
Wines with residual sugar and active yeast cells tended to continue fermenting. Even dry wines could begin a second, or malolactic, fermentation, set off by ambient heat. Whether a wine ended up dry or sweet, lightly sparkling or fully effervescent, depended on time, weather conditions, the phases of the moon, and even luck."

The tradition of producing wines with… bubbles continued, however, even though Andrea Bacci, in his celebrated 1596 book, De naturali vinum historia, in which he praises the wines of Franciacorta, stating that the towns of Palazzolo and Erbusco "abound in very full-bodied wines," makes no mention of any mordaci wines. Some decades earlier, an agronomist, Agostino Gallo, wrote about a very special wine called cisiolo, made from the free-run juice of red grapes which was given a brief fermentation then aged in small casks stored in only the coldest cellars or even in wells, so that it would keep its fizziness for at least a year. Gallo was quickly followed, in 1570, by Gerolamo Conforti, a physician, whose Libellus de vino mordaci described the characteristics, production method, and therapeutic values of the youthful sparkling wines, "crisp and prickly (piccante e mordace)," made in the area.

None of this is meant to imply that Franciacorta preceded Champagne and Dom Pérignon, both of which had the opportunity and good fortune of having bottles strong enough to resist the pressure of the wine and grapes varieties suitable for secondary fermentation; it is simply testimony to the fact that fizzy wines were popular and widespread in Europe, and hence in Franciacorta as well, in the 17th century.

This tradition assumed new strength and vigour, as well as a thoroughly modern thrust, in the early 1960s (taking advantage of the introduction in the late 19th century of Cabernet Franc and Pinot Noir) with the first Pinot di Franciacorta sparkling wines, and then, in July of 1967, with the launching of the Franciacorta DOC. This denomination initially covered both red and white wines, still and sparkling, but already in 1983 it allowed for a Franciacorta DOC Bianco (of Pinot Blanc and/or Chardonnay) and a Franciacorta DOC Spumante (of Pinot Blanc and/or Chardonnay, with up to 15% Pinot Grigio and Pinot Noir). With the approval of the DOCG in September 1995, reserved exclusively to Franciacorta sparkling wine (with Terre di Franciacorta DOC covering the still wines, both white and red), the winemaking history of this area, in which Il Mosnel too played a prominent role, has, for the moment at least, reached its centuries-long goal. And the vini mordaci have fittingly passed the baton to the noble perlage of the Franciacorta DOCG.