The still wines from this area have ancient traditions, referred to by Virgil and Pliny the Elder, and documented in Brescia City council books as "Franzacurta" as far back as in 1277. The name may derive from the tax-exempt (francae) status of the region's towns (curtes) in the Middle Ages.[3] The wines were not called Franciacorta until 1957, when Guido Berlucchi released a white wine named Pinot di Franciacorta.[4] An ambitious young winemaker working for Berlucchi, Franco Ziliani, was permitted to pursue an ambition of producing a fine sparkling wine, and in 1961 was allowed to produce for release 3,000 bottles of a sparkling wine, also sold under the name Pinot di Franciacorta.[4] Instant interest allowed the following vintage production to be set at 20,000 bottles, and eventually the annual production was 100,000 bottles.[4] The national prominence that followed was soon exploited by several entrepreneurs from Milan and Brescia,[2] and by the time the region was granted DOC status in 1967 there were 11 producers of sparkling Franciacorta, although Berlucchi represented more than 80% of the production