Don’t want to spend your whole holiday budget on Champagne? Sophie Menin recommends great sparkling wines from France, Spain, and Italy that are unusual and delicious—but don’t break the bank.

Champagne. It’s everywhere during the holiday season, like tinsel. Some of it is excellent with tiny bubbles that glide across your palate offering an effervescent lift to the aromas of Chardonnay, Pinot Noir, and Pinot Meunier. Much of it tastes like acerbic carbonated water with a dose of sugar to take the edge off. High-quality Champagne comes at a steep price; it is often difficult to find a worthwhile bottle for less than $35, which can be prohibitive when serving a large party or adhering to a budget. Fortunately, when looking for premium quality sparkling wine with small bubbles, distinctive aromas and loads of character, Champagne is far from the only choice. During the holiday season, when there is a reason to crack open a bottle of something sparkling almost every night, it pays to look beyond Champagne’s familiar borders to Crémant de Bourgogne, Cava, Prosecco, and Moscato d’Asti, where the best bottles can be had for less than $20. The bottles in this selection all offer quality, value and pleasure.

4. Tentimenti Ca’Bianca, Moscato d’Asti, 2009 and Vietti, Moscato d’Asti, Cascinetta, 2009

Moscato d’Asti may be the perfect dessert wine. Made in Piedmont from ultra-ripe Moscato Bianco by the same growers who stock your shelves with world-class Barollo, Barbaresco, and Barbera, Moscato d’Astis are fragrant, light on the tongue and just sweet enough, like the finest Italian desserts. They’re also very low in alcohol, 5.5 percent, which often is all you want after a cocktail or aperitif and then wine with dinner. Since the best bottles tend to cost less than $15, Moscato d’Asti is a wine to be enjoyed any night. Tentimenti Ca’Bianca is a favorite. Pale gold wine with refined aromas of orange blossoms, honey and apricots, it is full-bodied, almost luscious, but its fizziness gives the wine a weightless quality. The Vietti, Moscato d’Asti, Cascinetta, is also very good. It is slightly richer than the Ca’Bianca, almost mouth-coating, yet it is beautifully balanced by a hint more effervescence. The Vietti’s sweetness calls out for Italy’s classic restrained desserts, like figs and almond tarts.

15 Piedmont Reds

New reviews of Barberas from Italy’s Piedmont region, including some outstanding bottlings at bargain prices

Bruce Sanderson
Posted: November 5, 2010

Three years ago I went to Piedmont on vacation to learn more about the region’s great Nebbiolo wines. What I discovered, to my delight, was Barbera, the most widely planted red grape in Piedmont and second only to Sangiovese in Italy.

Barbera is a grape naturally high in acidity and low in tannins, and it comes in many styles. Its fruit reminds me of black currant or blackberry, with floral and spice accents. It is often aged in oak, sometimes using new barriques; the late Giacomo Bologna was a proponent of this style, creating a single-vineyard Barbera d’Asti Bricco dell’Uccellone in the early 1980s. Other Barberas are aged in large oak casks. For Barbera at its purest, however, look for the Cascina Roccalini, made entirely in stainless steel tanks.

CA' BIANCA Barbera d'Asti Superiore Chersì 2006 Score: 92 | $25

A touch of oak frames the black cherry and floral flavors beautifully in this harmonious red. There are no edges, and the refined tannins are well-integrated with its bright acidity. There's a lingering, coffee- and spice-tinged aftertaste. Drink now through 2014. 400 cases imported. —B.S.