A Fumarium was a smoke chamber used in Ancient Rome to enhance the flavor of wine

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage, made of fermented fruit juice, usually from grapes. The natural chemical balance of grapes lets them ferment without the addition of sugars, acids, enzymes, or other nutrients. Grape wine is produced by fermenting crushed grapes using various types of yeast. Yeast...

 through artificially "aging" the wine. Amphora

Amphora

An amphora is a type of vase-shaped, usually ceramic container with two handles and a long neck narrower than the body...

e were placed in the chamber, which was built on top of a heated hearth

Hearth

In common historic and modern usage, a hearth is a brick- or stone-lined fireplace or oven often used for cooking and/or heating. For centuries, the hearth was considered an integral part of a home, often its central or most important feature...

, in order to impart a smoky flavor in the wine that also seemed to sharpen the acidity. The wine would sometimes come out of the fumarium with a paler color. In his book Vintage: The Story of Wine, Hugh Johnson noted that Pliny the Elder

Pliny the Elder

Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...

 and Columella

Columella

Lucius Junius Moderatus Columella is the most important writer on agriculture of the Roman empire. Little is known of his life. He was probably born in Gades , possibly of Roman parents. After a career in the army , he took up farming...

 did not recommend that "first-growth wines" like Falernian

Falernian wine

Falernian wine was produced from Aglianico grapes on the slopes of Mt. Falernus near the border of Latium and Campania, where it became the most renowned wine produced in ancient Rome. Considered a "first growth" or "cult wine" for its time, it was often mentioned in Roman literature, but has...

, Caecuban

Caecuban wine

Caecuban wine came from a small territory, ager Caecubus, at Amyclae in coastal Latium. Varro, around 70 BC, already regarded this district as a place of legendary wealth...

, and Alban

Alban wine

Alban wine is a notable wine of Ancient Rome that was grown in the Colli Albani region, Southeast of Rome, at the foot of Mt. Albus. The area is now occupied by the modern day papal residence of Castelgandolfo...

 be smoked.

Process

For preservation, the amphorae were sometimes treated with sulphur dioxide prior to being placed in the fumarium. In his book, The Cyclopedia of Biblical Literature, John Kitto states that the ban on smoked wines as offerings in the Mishna stemmed from the Roman use of sulphur fumes-a uniquely Gentile

Gentile

The term Gentile refers to non-Israelite peoples or nations in English translations of the Bible....

technique.