If there ever was a year that needed to be ridden out of town on a rail in an orgy of drunken revelry, it was 2009. War, layoffs, bankruptcies, foreclosures, mass murder, rage, fear, paranoia. Can famine, pestilence, plagues of locusts, and the other 471 horsemen of the soul-sucking apocalypse be far behind?

A nation never needed a collective drink so badly.

All the more reason, then, to hoist a glass or several of bubbly to commemorate the year about to depart -- don’t let the door hit your ass on the way out -- and in hopes that 2010 will see some of that change we’re still trying so hard to believe in.

Or maybe not. In which case we’ll need to switch to something stronger. But let’s enjoy the bubbly and the holidays while they last.

One of the secrets to finding affordable, recession-era champagne (and we’ll use that word interchangeably with bubbly, sparkling wine, and so on, knowing that true champagne comes only from the Champagne region of France) is to look outside the well-known brands for small French houses you’ve probably never heard of. This will likely require a visit to a serious wine shop or giant warehouse store with the ability to import them directly, though it’s always worth checking your local supermarket for specials or the odd, off-the-drinkin’-path bubbly.

In that light we have a trio of French sparklers, all from outside Champagne. The best and an excellent value is the nonvintage (all the bubblies in this tasting are nonvintage) Charles de Fere Cuvee Jean-Louis Blanc de Blancs Brut. Not as austere and steely as other, it balances a backbone of citrusy acidity with subtle flavors of ripe peaches and pear and a bit of toast, giving it restrained lushness unusual in a Brut but that I find irresistible.

More traditionally Brut, which is to say drier and leaner, is the Depreville champagne. Its initial pronounced earthy-mineral aromas lessen after few minutes in the glass, where flavors of tart lemons and green apples mellow their musky character. The texture is surprisingly creamy but the mousse (bubbles) is fairly short-lived. More sustained bubbles would also benefit the François Montand Brut Rosé, though it does offer up pleasantly candied cherry and strawberry flavors, with yeasty, citrusy undertones.

Spanish cava can also yield good values, and while a flier taken in search of a sweeter-style sparkler, Freixenet Extra Dry (in the bass-ackwards terminology of champagne), foundered on eye-watering, kerosene aromas, a Brut from the Spanish house of Poema was a real find. Though not as rich as the Jean-Louis, it still showed off ripe fruit and spice balanced by lemon-lime acidity and limestone minerality. At $8.99 at Publix, it’s too easily available, too good a deal, and too good a wine to pass up.

For something simpler and fruitier and a little sweeter, perhaps for that nonwine lover in your midst, Italian prosecco is a worthy choice. The Contine Riouolo Spago Nero gets the job done nicely, with a fizzy mélange of uncomplicated peach, pear, and apple flavors in crisp, clean-tasting package.

And finally, for a very good deal on a sparkler that delivers more than its price point of multilayered flavors and textures, check out the Piper Sonoma Blanc de Blancs Brut. It smells of fresh-baked bread, apples and minerals, and presents palate-cleansing tastes of green apples, lemon-lime, and gooseberries with yeasty, almost mushroomy nuances, plus a tart, lingering finish and bubbles that stick around for the long haul.

Now bring on the damn apocalypse.

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