NONPROFITS

Liliana Letran-Garcia

CLUES, Comunidades Latinas Unidas en Servicio, a Latino-led community and labor organization, announced the appointment of Liliana Letran-Garcia as president and chief executive officer, effective Feb. 2. Letran-Garcia most recently has served as CEO of Interfaith Action of Greater Saint Paul; she returns to CLUES after serving as its vice president of programs from 2018-2023. … CommunityGiving, a St. Cloud-based consortium of Central Minnesota-based philanthropic and community fund-raising organizations, announced it has named James Ringwald as chief financial officer, effective Nov. 18. Ringwald succeeds Elise Wiener, who will retire on Dec. 31. Ringwald most recently served as director at Marshall & Stevens, Mendota Heights.

ADVERTISING/PUBLIC RELATIONS

Minneapolis-based Betty, a Quad agency, announced it has been named the creative agency for national consumer adhesive brand Gorilla Glue; the award followed a competitive review.

ARCHITECTURE/ENGINEERING

WSB, a Golden Valley-based consulting and engineering firm, announced the promotion of Craig Alberg to vice president of contract administration. Alberg previously served as the firm’s director of contract administration for the Metro Region.

DESIGN

Max Allers, creative director at Max Marketing Communications, St. Paul, announced that he has received an 18th national GDUSA American Graphic Design Award for Print Design, Advertising Design and for Website / Digital Design from Graphic Design USA.

FINANCIAL SERVICES

Piper Sandler Cos., a Minneapolis-based national investment bank, announced the launch of private markets trading under the direction of managing directors Patrick Gordon, Kyle Mooney and David Ilishah, all new hires. All three join Piper Sandler from Forge Global.

HONORS

The Dakota County Regional Chamber of Commerce announced its 2025 Business Excellence Awards: Legacy Award winner: Dan Sjolseth, Superior Collision & Automotive; Emerging Leader of the Year: Colleena Carlisle, Dakota Woodlands; Large Business of the Year: Flint Hills Resources; Mid-Size Business of the Year: Lakeview Bank; Small Business of the Year: Minnesota Behavioral Specialists; Nonprofit of the Year: Rosemount Beyond the Yellow Ribbon. … Accounting firm EY announced the following Minnesota recipients of its Entrepreneur Of The Year 2025 National Awards: Charlie Youakim, CEO and co-founder of Sezzle, Minneapolis, National Award winner in the Financial Services and Fintech category; National Finalist, Family Business: Sarah Barrett Reiner and Tom Barrett, Barrett Petfood, Brainerd; National Finalist, Health and Life Sciences: Mike Blue, HistoSonics, Plymouth.

LAW

Fredrikson, Minneapolis, announced that attorney Ethan C. Wold has joined the firm’s Health Law and Life Sciences groups. Prior to joining Fredrikson, Wold served as a sergeant in the United States Marine Corps. … Spencer Fane announced the addition of Katherine Cochran to the firm’s Minneapolis office as an associate in the Litigation and Dispute Resolution practice group. Cochran has served as a volunteer attorney for the Innocence Project of Minnesota, the Minnesota Justice Foundation and WomenVenture. She previously served as a judicial extern to the Honorable Nicole J. Starr of the Ramsey County District Court in St. Paul.

MEDIA

Minnesota Public Radio News announced the appointments of Darius Walker as managing editor, and Curtis Gilbert as deputy managing editor of investigations, starting their new roles on Jan. 5 and Dec. 28, respectively. Walker previously served as senior vice president and senior executive producer of CBS News Digital. Gilbert has been a reporter, producer and editor for MPR News for more than two decades. Minnesota Public Radio is based in St. Paul.

ORGANIZATIONS

The Minnesota Business Partnership, a consortium of executives representing the state’s largest employers focused on quality of life as an economic issue,
announced the appointment of Erika Nelson as chief of staff. Nelson most recently served as state director for U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn.

SERVICES

Fastenal Co., a Winona, Minn.-based tool and parts supplier to industry, announced that President and Chief Sales Officer Jeffery M. Watts will be promoted to CEO effective July 16, 2026, succeeding Daniel L. Florness. Florness, who joined Fastenal in 1996 and became CEO in 2016, plans to serve as a strategic adviser to Watts until early 2028.

SPONSORSHIPS

UNRL, a St. Paul-based athletic apparel brand, announced it has signed on as a Platinum Partner of the 2026 Special Olympics USA Games, taking place in Minnesota in 2026.

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Brigitte Bardot, the pouty, tousle-haired French actress who redefined mid-20th-century movie sex symbolism in films beginning with “And God Created Woman,” then gave up acting at 39 to devote her life to the welfare of animals, died Sunday at her home in southern France. She was 91.

Fondation Brigitte Bardot, which she established for the protection of animals, announced her death.

Bardot was 23 when “And God Created Woman,” a box-office flop in France in 1956, opened in the United States the next year and made her an international star. Bosley Crowther, writing in The New York Times, called her “undeniably a creation of superlative craftsmanship” and “a phenomenon you have to see to believe.” Like many critics, he was unimpressed by the film itself.

French film actress Brigitte Bardot appears at the Mount Royal Hotel in London on April 9, 1959. (AP Photo/Dave Dawson, File)

Bardot’s film persona was distinctive, compared with other movie sex symbols of the time, not only for her ripe youthfulness but also for her unapologetic carnal appetite. Her director was her husband, Roger Vadim, and although they soon divorced, he continued to shape her public image, directing her in four more movies over the next two decades.

The author Simone de Beauvoir, in a 1959 essay, “Brigitte Bardot and the Lolita Syndrome,” saw Bardot’s powerful onscreen erotic presence as a feminist challenge to “the tyranny of the patriarchal gaze” represented by the movie camera. The challenge failed, Beauvoir concluded, but it was a “noble failure.”

Few of Bardot’s movies were serious cinematic undertakings, and she later told a French newspaper that she considered “La Vérité,” Henri-Georges Clouzot’s Oscar-nominated 1960 crime drama, the only good film she ever made.

Nicknamed B.B. (pronounced in French much like the word for baby), she was best known for light comedies like “The Bride Is Much Too Beautiful” (1956), “Babette Goes to War” (1959) and “The Vixen” (1969), but she did work with some of France’s most respected directors.

Early in her career she appeared in René Clair’s “Grandes Manoeuvres” (1955). Jean-Luc Godard directed her in the 1963 film-industry drama “Contempt.” Louis Malle was her director on “A Very Private Affair” (1962), a drama that also starred Marcello Mastroianni, and “Viva Maria!” (1965), a western comedy in which she and Jeanne Moreau played singing strippers who become revolutionaries in early-20th-century Central America. That film earned her the only acting-award nomination of her career, as best foreign actress, from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

French actress Brigitte Bardot with actor Jack Palance during filming of the movie “Le Mepris” aka “Contempt”, by Jean-Luc Godard, in Rome, Italy, May 1963. (AP Photo/File)

Although she made several films in English, Bardot never worked in the United States. The closest she came to Hollywood roles were small parts, when she was still unknown, in Robert Wise’s “Helen of Troy” (1956), a Warner Bros. picture filmed in Italy, and “Act of Love” (1953), a Kirk Douglas film shot in France and directed by Anatole Litvak. “Shalako,” a 1968 western in which she was cast opposite Sean Connery, was a British-German production filmed in Spain and England.

At the height of her popularity, almost everything about Bardot was copied — her deliberately messy hairstyle, her heavy eye makeup and her fashion choices, which included tight knit tops; skinny pants; gingham; and flounced skirts showing off bare, suntanned legs. In 1969, she became the first celebrity to be used as the model for Marianne, a traditional symbol of the French Republic that adorns town halls across the country.

In a statement on Sunday, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, said, “Her films, her voice, her dazzling fame, her initials, her sorrows, her generous passion for animals, her face that became Marianne — Brigitte Bardot embodied a life of freedom.”

She helped turn St.-Tropez, once a quiet fishing port in the South of France, into a painfully fashionable resort town after she bought a home there in 1958. Two decades later, when she publicly complained about the deteriorating quality of life in St.-Tropez, the mayor replied, “I ask the question: Who brought vice and lewdness here?”

When Bardot announced her retirement from films in 1973, she had already begun her work on behalf of animal rights and welfare (although she had told an American reporter in 1965, “I adore furs”). But it was only in 1986, a year after she was made a chevalier of France’s Legion of Honor, that she created the Fondation Brigitte Bardot, based in Paris, which has waged battles against wolf hunting, bullfighting, vivisection and the consumption of horse meat. In 1987, she auctioned off her jewelry and other personal belongings to ensure the foundation’s financial base.

“I gave my beauty and my youth to men,” she was quoted as saying at the time, “and now I am giving my wisdom and experience, the best of me, to animals.”

Four decades later, the foundation said in its statement on Sunday, it has taken in more than 12,000 animals and worked in 70 countries. It called Bardot “an exceptional woman who gave everything and sacrificed everything for a world that is more respectful of animals.”

In recent decades, Bardot continued to appear in public to promote animal rights, but she gained notoriety for her political views, which many saw as racist. This came to particular light in her two-volume memoir, “Initiales B.B.” (1996-97), in which she made negative comments about several groups, including Muslims. In 2004, she was convicted of inciting racial hatred, and fined, for similar comments in “A Cry in the Silence,” a nonfiction bestseller in which she referred to Muslims as “cruel and barbaric invaders” and made derogatory comments about gay people.

By 2008, she had been convicted of the same charge five times.

At best, Bardot was considered eccentric in her later years, prompting observations that this former sex kitten, as she was often called, had turned into a “crazy cat lady.” Interviewed by the magazine Paris Match in January 2018, she denounced the #MeToo movement, calling actresses’ claims of sexual harassment “hypocritical, ridiculous, without interest.”

Brigitte Bardot was born into wealth on Sept. 28, 1934, in Paris, the older of two daughters of Louis and Anne-Marie Bardot. Her father was an industrialist, and she grew up in the city’s affluent 16th arrondissement. She began modeling as a teenager and appeared on the cover of Elle magazine at 15.

Her parents objected both to her acting aspirations and to her relationship with Vadim, then a young assistant to the film director Marc Allégret. This led to the first of at least four reported suicide attempts. The Bardots eventually relented about Vadim, and she married him in 1952, less than three months after her 18th birthday.

She had already made her film debut that year in “Manina, la Fille Sans Voile,” a romantic adventure that was released in the United States six years later as “The Girl in the Bikini,” and a family comedy, “Le Trou Normand.” By the time “And God Created Woman” made Bardot a star, she had appeared in more than a dozen films. She would make fewer than four dozen altogether.

Her last movie appearance was a supporting role in “The Edifying and Joyous Story of Colinot,” a 1973 comedy about a young man’s numerous romantic encounters. (She played an older woman who taught him valuable life lessons.) Her last starring role was in “If Don Juan Were a Woman,” a poorly reviewed 1973 drama directed by Vadim that was released in the United States in 1976.

Bardot married four times and had well-publicized long-term romantic relationships with other men, including actor Jean-Louis Trintignant and singer and songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. She and Vadim divorced in 1957. Her second husband (1959-62) was actor Jacques Charrier, with whom she had a son. After the couple divorced, the boy was brought up by Charrier’s parents, but he reconciled with his mother in adulthood. Charrier died in 2025.

Bardot was married to Gunter Sachs, a German industrialist, from 1966 to 1969. After their divorce, she did not marry again until 1992.

She is survived by her fourth husband, Bernard d’Ormale, a former adviser to the late right-wing French politician Jean-Marie Le Pen; her son, Nicolas Charrier; a sister, Marie-Jeanne Bardot; two granddaughters; and three great-grandchildren.

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It was the best-of times (you know, that period in December when we do the best-of lists).

But it could feel like the worst of times: There’s so much to read before the year finishes!

Well, there’s good news. You can read these books whenever you want — this year, next year, Leap Day, anytime. This best-of thing isn’t really a competition — it’s a collaboration between writers, editors, designers, publicists, booksellers, journalists and readers like you.

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And the prize isn’t a trophy: it’s a bunch of terrific books that find their way into readers’ hands. We’re all winners when we share the good stuff with each other. And this is the good stuff, folks.

That said, we also love lists — making them, reading them, remembering to recount them after last-minute changes (most of the time) — so don’t think we’re not going to list it up like crazy here. (How much do we enjoy lists? This year’s list comes with its own extra list, so you can pile your TBR lists even higher.) (You’re welcome.)

So, which book is best? That’s for you to decide. Read on for 46 excellent ones published in 2025.

“The Book of I” by David Grieg (Europa Editions)

First recommended to me by Vroman’s bookseller Pat, this slim debut novel tells the story of a Viking left for dead (he’d only passed out, but was unpopular with the other marauders) on a Scottish island with the two survivors of his crew’s bloody raid, a monk and a newly widowed beekeeper. Awkward, yes, but the harsh circumstances change them all. 

Or if you like stories featuring characters stranded on an island, try “Isola” by Allegra Goodman (The Dial Press)

—

“The Buffalo Hunter Hunter” by Stephen Graham Jones (Simon & Schuster/Saga)

In this engrossing combination of historical fiction, folk horror and campus novel, a struggling academic comes into contact with a historically significant artifact: her ancestor’s 100-year-old diary, which details his conversations with a mysterious Native American man who might be a vampire.

Or if you like historical fiction mixed with the supernatural, try “The Antidote” by Karen Russell (Knopf)

—

“Bug Hollow” by Michelle Huneven (Penguin Press)

The author told us in 2022, “I don’t mind being a regional writer. Altadena contains multitudes.” Dedicated to her hometown in the wake of the Eaton Fire, Huneven’s latest is a series of interlocking chapters about members of the Samuelson family across the decades as life takes them from Altadena and Pasadena to halfway around the world and back.

Or if you prefer family dramas set in the Midwest, try “Buckeye” by Patrick Ryan (Random House)

—

“The Correspondent” by Virginia Evans (Crown)

Told through the letters and emails of a formidable woman, this surprise bestseller develops its irresistible mix of storytelling, intelligence and emotion through correspondence, which reveals more and more as you read on. You could hand this book to just about anyone, and they’d likely enjoy it.

Or if you like reading other people’s mail, try: “Selected Letters of John Updike” by John Updike, edited by James Schiff (Knopf)

—

“Dark Renaissance: The Dangerous Times and Fatal Genius of Shakespeare’s Greatest Rival” by Stephen Greenblatt (W.W. Norton)

Whether “Hamnet” awakened your interest in this time period or you just love a good historical mystery, Greenblatt explores what’s known about the life of playwright (and likely spy) Christopher Marlowe, as well as considering all that we don’t know. (Greenblatt’s book made me want to reread Hesse Phillips’ excellent, deeply researched 2024 Marlowe novel, “Lightborne.”)

Or if you’d like a rich nonfiction account of Elizabethan theater, try “The Dream Factory: London’s First Playhouse and the Making of William Shakespeare” by Daniel Swift (FSG)

—

“Do Admit! The Mitford Sisters and Me” by Mimi Pond (Drawn & Quarterly)

While a group biography of the notorious Mitford sisters delivered in a graphic memoir form might seem an unlikely pairing, the cartoonist and writer Pond channels just the right combination of history and humor to tell the stories of six siblings whose interest ranged from being a Nazi-loving pal of Hitler to moving to Oakland and becoming a muckraking journalist who changed an entire industry.

Or if you like big novels about cursed siblings, try “The Sisters” by Jonas Hassen Khemiri (FSG)

—

“The Dream Hotel” by Laila Lalami (Pantheon)

In Lalami’s novel, set in a dystopian near-future, an exhausted Getty researcher and mother of twins is stopped at the airport after a long flight, where she is subjected to an interrogation under draconian new laws and her life is upended for a crime not actually committed.

Or if you’re interested in speculative fiction involving troubled border crossings, try “A Guardian and a Thief” by Megha Majumdar (Knopf)

—

“Flesh” by David Szalay (Scribner)

Winner of the Booker Prize, this novel introduces the reader to a Hungarian teenager and then follows him throughout the ups and downs of his life. Whatever you do, do NOT think of this unsettling novel as a swell gift idea for your mom or your child’s teacher, unless you enjoy awkward conversations later on. 

Or if novels that tackle problematic, age-inappropriate relationships are of interest, try “Playworld” by Adam Ross (Knopf)

—

“Heart the Lover” by Lily King (Grove)

In this moving story about three friends who meet and fall in and out of love in college, King works some magic to create rich relationships that can feel as real and lived-in as your own school memories. The novel examines compassion, regret and life decisions that turn out to be pivotal.

Or if you like school relationships that literally put you through hell, try “Katabasis” by R. F. Kuang (Harper Voyager)

—

“The Impossible Thing” by Belinda Bauer (Atlantic Monthly Press)

In this fascinating mystery that spans a century, the plot revolves around the once-common practice of stealing eggs out of the nests of seabirds. One hundred years later, the practice now outlawed, a thriving black market operates in eggs — including the search for an “impossible” red one.

Or if you want a different sort of time-spanning crime novel, try “Fair Play” by Louise Hegarty (Harper)

—

“Is a River Alive?” by Rob Macfarlane (W. W. Norton)

One of our favorite writers, Macfarlane delivers his most ambitious and moving work to date. As with his previous book, “Underland,” the author travels the world, this time to explore three rivers — each facing existential challenges — while connecting with those working to protect the rivers and all who rely on them. 

Or if you want a fictional look at future effects of climate change, try “What We Can Know” by Ian McEwan (Knopf)

—

“King of Ashes” by S.A. Cosby (Flatiron)

Cosby is one of the most exciting novelists around, combining the skills of literary fiction with the thrills of visceral pulp. And here, drawing on his own experience working in the funeral industry, he writes a “Godfather”-influenced, crime story about a good man who realizes he could be an even better criminal.

Or if you like cinematic criminal enterprises set in a sleepy resort town, try “Only Way Out” by Tod Goldberg (Thomas & Mercer)

—

“Lion” by Sonya Walger (NYRB)

This work of deeply autobiographical fiction reveals Walger, known to many for her role as Penny on the TV series “Lost,” to be a writer of great skill and feeling. Moreover, this exploration of a daughter’s love for her problematic father resonates with love and loss — made more poignant by the fact that Walger lost her beloved home, notebooks and personal library in the Palisades Fire.

Or if you’re interested how a writer must reckon with the unexpected death of her beloved husband, try “Memorial Days” by Geraldine Brooks (Viking)

—

“A Long Game: Notes on Writing Fiction” by Elizabeth McCracken (Ecco)

Don’t be fooled: Ostensibly a book about writing, McCracken instead provides fortunate readers with a deep, idiosyncratic and hilarious-on-every-page meditation on the work of fiction, the love of reading and the life of a human trying to make stuff. It’s a lovely, generous work, perfect for anyone who loves books or enjoys laughing a lot.

Or if you’re interested in a visual artist’s take on creating work, try “Art Work: On the Creative Life” by Sally Mann (Abrams)  

—

“North Sun: The Voyage of the Whaleship Esther” by Ethan Rutherford (A Strange Object)

Maybe “Moby-Dick” set the template for the drama of the whaling vessel, but Rutherford’s debut novel is an engrossing and unusual look at life on a ship and the men who populate its decks. Told in short chapters, this vibrant book holds a strange power that is hard to resist, just like the sea.

Or if you prefer a different kind of whale story, try “A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck” by Sophie Elmhirst (Riverhead)

—

“One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This” by Omar El Akkad (Knopf)

Passionate, powerful and polemical, this National Book Award-winning work of nonfiction rejects accepted notions about the devastation of Gaza following the Oct. 7 attacks. Haunted by images of dead children and a destroyed landscape, El Akkad pushes back against what he sees as paralyzed inaction in the face of genocide.

Or if you’d like to read more about Gaza, try Pankaj Mishra’s “The World After Gaza: A History” (Penguin Press)

—

“Palaver” by Bryan Washington (FSG)

In this National Book Award-nominated novel, a long-estranged mother and son are reunited when she arrives in Japan to see him, who is not too happy to be playing host to her in his tiny living space. Washington told us earlier this year about the novel, saying that he wanted to explore “whether or not reconciliation is possible with a person after challenging experiences.”

Or if you’re looking for a novel in which mother and son head to a new country together, try “Fonseca” by Jessica Francis Kane (Penguin Press)

—

“The Queen of Swords” by Jazmina Barrera, translated by Christina MacSweeney (Two Lines Press)

Barrera, known for her books “On Lighthouses” and “Cross-Stitch,” admits that she’d initially planned to write a short essay about Mexican writer Elena Garro, a founder of magical realism who was married to writer Octavio Paz. “I was mistaken,” she writes, revealing that she became fascinated with Garro and spent years on the project, which won the Cercador Prize and was longlisted for the National Book Award.

Or if you’re looking for a deep dive into the life of an underappreciated writer, try “Gertrude Stein: An Afterlife” by Francesca Wade (Scribner).

—

“Remember Us to Life” by Joanna Rubin Dranger (Ten Speed Graphic)

At one point in this graphic memoir about the author’s ancestry and the Holocaust, one character gives another a copy of the graphic novel “Maus,” and you can feel a deep connection between that book and this richly researched memoir about lives brutalized by antisemitism and murdered by the Third Reich. With affecting artwork, photos and documents, this is a powerful work of personal history.

Or if you’d like a graphic family memoir involving farming, try “Ginseng Roots” by Chris Thompson (Pantheon)

—

“Sacrament” by Susan Straight (Counterpoint)

National Book Award finalist Straight is one of our finest novelists, and “Sacrament” offers a powerful look at lives disrupted by the pandemic in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. Set in August 2020 as the coronavirus surges, the book focuses on four nurses working long hours to save lives, even as their own relationships with family and loved ones strain under quarantine. Straight writes beautifully about all of the senses — the peppery taste of a Mexican Coke or light shining through a sprinkler spray — and she’s at her best seeing the people and places others miss.

Or if you’re looking for a pandemic story involving a small furry creature, try “Raising Hare: A Memoir” by Chloe Dalton (Pantheon)

—

“The Secret History of the Rape Kit” by Pagan Kennedy (Vintage)

Journalist Kennedy tells the previously unknown story of a woman named Marty Goddard, who created the modern rape kit to collect evidence after sexual assault. Not only did Goddard create an essential law enforcement tool — Kennedy points to Goddard’s work as being key to catching the Golden State Killer, for example — but she also campaigned to improve the treatment of survivors of sexual assault. While a male law enforcement officer took credit for her work and she later dropped out of sight, Kennedy’s powerful reporting reclaims Goddard’s name and achievements.

Or if you’re interested in a writer investigating a real-life family mystery, try “Indignity” by Lea Ypi (FSG)

—

“Stone Yard Devotional” by Charlotte Wood (Riverhead)

Maybe my favorite of the year, Wood’s Booker Prize-nominated novel tells a rich, engrossing story about a woman, in need of escape from her work and marriage, who seeks refuge in a religious community despite not being a believer. While there, she deals with her past and mice. Lots of mice.

Or if you’re looking for another low-key work of excellence, try “Perfection” by Vincenzo Latronico, translated by Sophie Hughes (NYRB)

—

“The Wilderness” by Angela Flournoy (Mariner)

Set during the first decades of the current millennium, this novel, the long-awaited second from National Book Award finalist Flournoy, examines the changing relationships of five women, among them the sisters Desiree and Danielle, whose estrangement begins early and grows deeper in the wake of a shared loss.

Or if you like novels about relationships that span years, try “The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny” by Kiran Desai (Hogarth)

By Elin McCoy, Bloomberg News

It’s that time again.

I’ve been paging through my 2025 tasting notebooks, reviewing how many good and great wines I’ve sipped, as well as the number of boring overpriced duds. This year, my total of reds, whites, rosés and sparklers hit 2,874, from 26 countries. Admittedly, I sampled only a few from Moldova, Bolivia and Peru, but I plan to up that in 2026.

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In my annual top 50 buys under $50, I’ve tried to highlight wines new to me along with perennial bargains. My biggest sticker shock was how few Champagnes are still available at this price point, even on sale. I had to cheat a little to get one favorite in.

Although I sampled a surprising number of good value chardonnays this year (is that because of grape oversupply?), under-the-radar varietals and regions are where to look. Think the Languedoc-Roussillon in France, Ribeira Sacra in Spain, all of Portugal and South Africa, the Lodi region in California, the Finger Lakes in New York and more I’ll tell you about in 2026.

Unhappily, in the US, tariffs on European Union wines, rising interest rates and increased shipping costs have led to slimmer selections and some price hikes. Will the US Supreme Court knock down those tariffs on wine? Keep your fingers crossed. In the UK, increases in duty on alcohol volume (lower levels pay less) and packaging fees mean costlier bottles. Average prices are listed for both regions when possible.

A few tips: When you see a good buy, don’t wait. And remember that retailers frequently offer discounts, especially on Champagne, before the holidays and throughout January. Cutting back? Click through here for quality nonalcoholic options.

Fun fizz

Top sparkling bargains, including pét-nats, come from almost every continent.

NV Graham Beck Brut Rosé Méthode Cap Classique South Africa (US $20, UK £15) Fun, flirtatious, festive — this pale pink South African rosé fizz brims with bright strawberry fruit. It’s made the same way Champagne is, and it’s my favorite big party pour.

NV Keush Origins Brut (US $24, UK £21) Armenia is now creating exotic bubbly from grapes you’ve never heard of, Voskehat and Khatouni in this case. This big value sparkler by Keush would be twice the price if it had a different address.

NV Langlois Crémant de Loire Réserve Brut (US $25, UK £22) French crémants are ideal Champagne alternatives, made by the same traditional method but from different grapes that depend on the region. In the Loire Valley this means chenin blanc. This creamy textured example is a fine partner to food.

2023 Bosman Family Vineyards Méthode Ancestrale Chenin Blanc (US $27, UK £19) Made by a South African family dedicated to environmental sustainability, this is the ultimate feel-good brunch pét-nat, and it’s an approachable, lively natural wine for nonbelievers.

NV Clothilde Davenne Crémant de Bourgogne Extra Brut (US $32, UK £22) This Burgundian crémant is a chardonnay-pinot noir blend from chilly Chablis territory. It’s aperitif style: light, crisp and chalky, perfect with savory gougères, salty potato chips or sushi.

NV Louis Pommery Brut England (US $38, UK £28) Pommery was the first major Champagne house to release an English sparkling wine. It’s frothy and light, pure and floral, with green apple overtones. It’s not a wow fizz, but it’s oh so stylish. Winter wedding, anyone?

When only Champagne will do

Nonvintage blends from little-known growers still offer the best values, but entry-level cuvées from the big brands are frequently discounted right before the holidays. US and UK merchant Berry Bros & Rudd offers an excellent grand cru Champagne, under their own label, at US $50, UK £37.

NV Ployez-Jacquemart Extra Quality Brut (US $41, UK £44) The emblem fizz of this almost century-old grower Champagne house is a rich, round, complex cuvée of premier and grand cru wines.

Pierre Moncuit Blanc de Blancs Hugues de Coulmet Brut (US $45, UK £40) A fresh, citrusy all-chardonnay Champagne is the classic aperitif before a grand dinner. This appealing cuvée wafts up aromas of dried flowers and warm pastry, and provides a crispy zing to prime your taste buds.

NV Champagne Ponson Premier Cru Brut (US $48, UK £38) The once overlooked meunier grape has a starring role in this grower bubbly, contributing a vivid fruitiness and richer texture.

NV Champagne Chavost Blanc d’Assemblage Brut Nature (US $50, UK £35) The chef de cave, a darling of Paris natural wine bars, works with a collective of organic growers in a new model of a cooperative. This fizz has red fruit aromas, a label like an old-fashioned children’s book and no added sulfur.

NV Champagne Palmer La Réserve (US $50, UK £40) If you like an almost opulent Champagne with soft bubbles, the winery’s renamed signature blend is for you. It has a layered richness that’s rare in less expensive bottlings.

NV Billecart-Salmon Brut Le Réserve (US $56, UK £45) A bit out of price range (shhh!), but this well-known Champagne house has been in the throes of change. It’s now certified organic, the quality has risen, and the reimagined basic cuvée is drier, livelier and more seductive and charming.

White wines

From light, bright aperitifs to elegant, rich wines for a grand dinner.

2024 Aia Vecchia Vermentino (US $15, UK £15) Crisp, salty and grapefruity, this vermentino from coastal Tuscany is my light refrigerator white for sipping while cooking. Think of vermentino as the new sauvignon blanc.

2024 Apollo’s Praise Dry Riesling Lahoma Vineyard (US $17, UK £35 for 2023) With its first vintage (2023), this Finger Lakes winery grabbed global attention — and mine. A basic dry riesling of this quality, with white flower aromas, intense fruit balanced with mineral overtones and some elegance, at this price? Simply astonishing.

2024 Familia Deicas Atlantico Sur Albariño (US $19, UK £19) Cool coastal Uruguay has become one of the most exciting regions for albariño outside of Spain’s Galicia. This one has the peachy round character and electric acidity I love about this varietal.

2024 Terra Alpina Chardonnay (US $19, UK £16) Northern Italian producer Alois Lageder’s latest project is creating mouthwatering whites in partnership with organic growers in the rugged Dolomites. This spicy, slightly smoky chardonnay has Golden Delicious apple appeal.

2023 Guilhem and Jean-Hugues Goisot Bourgogne Aligoté (US $20, UK £22.50) Even though wines from aligoté, Burgundy’s other white grape, are getting more expensive, the Goisot family west of Chablis delivers a low-cost example with crisp, flinty minerality.

2023 Familia Zuccardi Chardonnay Q (US $21, UK £17 at Tesco) Feel good while drinking this Argentinean white: The winery is a global sustainability leader. The regional Q line chardonnay offers more sense of place than most inexpensive examples and shows off lovely apple and stone fruit notes.

2022 Marchelle Old Vines Colombard (US $23) The lush texture and dried mango nuances of this tart, fresh white blew me away. Celebrated California winemaker Greg LaFollette nursed the century-old colombard vineyard back to health.

2024 Dog Point Sauvignon Blanc (US $24, UK £20) New Zealand “savvy” is still a deal. Dog Point’s is on a whole different level than supermarket brands. Relish its savory citrusy notes, chalky texture and zesty acidity with raw oysters.

2022 Tasca d’Almerita Tenuta Regaleali Nozze d’Oro (US $29, UK £30) Sicily is a perennial source of bargains, and this reliable producer’s blend of local grape Inzolia and sauvignon blanc never fails. I love its bitter almond aromas and wild herb and citrus taste.

2023 La Garagista What There Was (US $32) The latest from Vermont’s pioneer of natural winemaking is a refreshing white from hybrid grape Brianna that mirrors the year’s weather challenges. The idea is to start a conversation about climate change. So, drink and talk!

2021 Oremus Tokaji Furmint Mandolas (US $32, UK £24) Hungary is noted for expensive sweet wines, but producers are increasingly using furmint grapes for dry ones. Mandolas’ combo of flint and ginger aromas and vivid mineral and apricot notes is wrapped in lush texture.

2023 Symington Casa de Rodas Alvarinho Vinho Verde (US $36) This is the first vintage of a sophisticated, complex white from the Symington port family and winemaker partner Anselmo Mendes. It’s delicious and comes with history too. The casa was built in 1566.

NV Bodegas Hidalgo La Gitana Manzanilla en Rama (US $37, UK £20) “En rama” means a sherry that’s bottled straight from the cask, so it has more character and flavor. This delicate, dry manzanilla, made from palomino grapes in Sanlúcar de Barrameda, has a subtle nutty and salty tang.

2022 Domaine William Fèvre Chablis (US $40, UK £27) Flinty minerality and edgy acidity make Chablis the best wine with oysters and any other shellfish. Plus, as white Burgundy prices rise, it still offers value.

2021 Centennial Mountain Vineyards Carricante ($45) Venture capitalist Kevin Harvey made a splash with his Rhys pinot noirs. Recently he planted the first Mount Etna varieties in Sonoma. The white carricante is a stunner: tangy, zingy, charged with energy.

2022 Domaine de Montille Bourgogne Blanc Le Clos du Château (US $45, UK £32) This famous estate has a couple of Bourgogne blancs, and this one from a special walled vineyard in front of the château drinks like a grander white. Call it a baby Puligny-Montrachet. It’s all lemon cream and wet stone, with a kiss of oak.

Red wines

From light and lively to big and bold.

2024 Badia a Coltibuono Labedia Chill Ya Jolo Labadia (US $19) This new, playful, chillable red from a historic Chianti Classico estate delivers charm and food-friendly freshness. Made from the little-known ciliegiologrape (get it?), it’s light and positively gluggable. (UK, check Chambers & Chambers.)

2023 Château Combel-la-Serre Cahors Le Pur Fruit du Causse (US $20, UK £22) If you want a big, bold, ripe red that’s still fresh and bright, this malbec from an organic estate in Cahors, the grape’s original French home, is more than satisfying for the price.

2023 Avignonesi Rosso Da-Di (US $23, UK £24 for 2022) The biodynamic Italian estate’s Da-Di wines (there’s a white too) started as experiments. This mouthwatering blend of five red grapes was aged in amphorae and has aromas of violets.

2022 Guímaro Camino Real (US $24, UK £27) Just about everyone loves the lushly fruity reds made from the mencia grape. This velvety, surprisingly complex Spanish version from trendy Ribeira Sacra also contains heirloom varieties grown in steep terraced vineyards.

2023 Bedrock Wine Company Old Vine Zinfandel (US $25, UK £30) Winemaker Morgan Twain-Peterson is one of the saviors of California’s old vineyards. Grapes from nine of them go into this savory red with rich raspberry and plum aromas. Zinfandels are woefully undervalued.

2022 Vasse Felix Filius Cabernet Sauvignon (US $25, UK £20 for 2021) Margaret River in Western Australia is prime territory for surfers and memorable cabernets. Lovely herbal notes combine with rich sleek fruit in this one, and the tannins promise it will age brilliantly.

2022 Hermann J Wiemer Cabernet Franc (US $27, UK £30) I’m a huge Cabernet franc fan, and this New York state winery makes a couple of my favorites. This one is like a light, quaffable Loire Valley red, and Wiemer’s Magdalena Vineyard bottling is more serious and age-worthy.

2023 Le Volte dell’Ornellaia (US $30, UK £29) For wine insiders, this is the not-so-secret value buy from Super Tuscan icon winery Ornellaia. The blend proportions vary, but this fresh, earthy, spicy vintage is mostly cabernet. Save it for a grand dinner.

2021 Château d’Aussières (US $30 for 2020, UK £27) The flagship red from the Corbières estate owned by Château Lafite Rothschild is a wine worth twice the price. It’s a rich, ripe, satisfying Rhône-style blend, overlaid with Bordeaux polish.

2021 Le Ragnaie Rosso di Montalcino (US $30, UK £25) Often dubbed “baby Brunello,” affordable Rosso di Montalcino is released and ready to drink sooner than its brother. The Ragnaie version, with its smoke and dried herbs, isn’t just Brunello discards; it comes from a special site.

2020 Chateau Musar Hochar Pere et Fils (US $31, UK £22) The Hochars are my wine heroes for creating great vino in Lebanon even when bombs were exploding. This silky-textured single-vineyard blend of cabernet, grenache and cinsault is what to drink if you’re toasting peace.

2022 Château Tronquoy Saint-Estèphe (US $40, UK £26) Don’t ignore Bordeaux’s bargains! This is the best vintage I’ve tasted from an estate in Saint-Estèphe owned by the billionaire proprietors of the more famous Château Montrose. It’s powerful and structured, with earthy tones and spicy fruit.

2013 López de Heredia Viña Bosconia Rioja Reserva 2013 (US $40, UK £35) The traditionalist producer in Rioja has a following of aficionados for its classic reds and whites. And for a full-bodied, complex, savory great wine that already been aged 12 years, the price is very, very low.

2022 Ex Post Facto Syrah (US $50) Esteemed winemaker Greg Brewercrafts this syrah from California’s cool Santa Rita Hills as though it were pinot noir. The result is a smoky-spicy red with bright fruit and a leathery finish.

2023 Pali Wine Co. Pali Vineyard Dornfelder (US $50) My first take: juicy berries, violet-y aromas, a bit peppery, only 12% alcohol and similar to a cru Beaujolais. It’s the first vintage of a new red from Pali, a winery on California’s Central Coast.

Rosé and orange wines for all seasons

Dry pink or orange wines are an all-year drink, as an aperitif or party sipper, or with food.

2024 Field Recordings Skins (US $22) This crisp California orange wine made from 12 white grapes (led by chenin blanc) in Paso Robles has a cult following. Vivid, earthy and richly textured, it will make you a believer.

2024 Istine Rosato (US $24) I’ve raved about the Istine Chianti Classicos, but winemaker Angela Fronti also makes an easy drinking rosé from Sangiovese. It’s fruity and fun, with herbal hints, and made for a lunch of bread and dry Italian sausage.

2023 Umathum Rosa (US $27) A serious fuchsia-colored rosé that satisfies even during a chilly winter, this unique Austrian wine is full of deep cherry and raspberry notes. It’s for hearty pork roasts.

2024 Les Vins Pirouettes Eros de Vincent (US $27) Just say yes! The collective of Alsatian organic wine growers was founded by natural wine guru Christian Binner, and the label is in most natural wine bars. Eros is a versatile light-bodied orange combo of white grapes that tastes of spice and ripe nectarines.

Sweet wines

And for dessert?

2024 G.D. Vajra Moscato d’Asti (US $20, UK £19) Think summer in a glass. With only 5.5% alcohol, scents like a bouquet of flowers, candied peach flavors and a gentle fizz, you could sip it all day while sitting on a patio. You don’t need an excuse.

2021 Château Rieussec Les Carmes de Rieussec (US $30, UK £25; 375mL) I love sweet Sauternes, but not enough drinkers do, or it would cost more. Inhale the honeysuckle-scents of this second wine from a cru classé château, and savor the flavors of candied lemon peel, honey and apricots with salty Roquefortcheese.

2020 Feudo Montoni Passito Rosso (US $37, UK £38; 375mL) Made from sun-dried perricone and nero d’avola grapes, this ultraripe, deeply sweet red is part of a long Sicilian tradition. A few sips with dark chocolate create a fabulous dessert.

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