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Whenever possible I try to avoid peeking at prices until I've made my tasting notes. Sometimes I'll even speculate on a price, jotting down a number I think would be fair for the liquid rather than the look of the label, weight of the bottle or propaganda from the winemaker.

The system doesn't always work, of course. Experience has taught me what retail prices to expect from certain brands - say, Opus One or Gaja - and what numbers to expect from various other label cues, such as "Grand Cru" or "Premier Cru Classe."

The process also has become depressing. Usually when I jot down my "fair price" guess, it falls painfully short of actual retail. Have you ever found the same thing? Wine, from a mercenary consumer's point of view (as opposed to a financially overextended wine producer's point of view) tends to be painfully overpriced for what it is.

Finding where the retail and realistic prices intersect is the fun of the hunt (isn't it?), at least for price-sensitive consumers like most of us who can't afford to burn hard-earned money on absurdly overpriced trophy brands (did someone say "Gaja?").

Here's what I wrote down after sampling a preview bottle months ago of Peninsula Ridge Inox Chardonnay 2007: $18.

Actual price: $12.95 (in Ontario).

I was cheating. I actually knew the price, because the wine's previous vintage, the 2006, was still widely available in stores across Ontario. Most Ontario wineries tend not to ratchet up prices with each new vintage.

Still, I jotted down "$18" because that's the starting price of a decent bottle of Chablis from France. That's what the 2007 Inox reminded me of.

Inox is the French abbreviation for stainless steel, meaning this wine was not aged in barrels, as most chardonnays are, to extract oak flavours that give them a vanilla-like sweetness, rounder texture and sometimes a toasty backnote.

The result here is a white with unadulterated fruit - mostly grapefruit and lime - and knife-sharp acidity, a hallmark of the typically unoaked whites of Chablis in northern Burgundy. As with good Chablis, this wine also oozes a suggestion of mineral or stone. That last quality is an acquired taste, but a prized one among fans of white Burgundy, German riesling and a host of other classic European wines. If you like opulent, oaky chardonnays, this is not the wine for you. But if you're fond of Chablis but not the French price, consider this huge bargain.

The Chablis connection is no accident. Peninsula Ridge's winemaker, Jean-Pierre Colas, was for a decade head winemaker at the large Chablis house Domaine Laroche, where his 1996 Chablis from the famed Les Clos vineyard won U.S.-based Wine Spectator magazine's white wine of the year in 1998.

The Inox 2007 is also one of the first whites to hail from Canada's unparalleled wine vintage (the barrel-aged whites and reds will follow). And that's why I had to call Norm Beal after tasting it. I wanted to know if he planned to jack up the price.

Beal is the winery's owner, a former oil-industry bigwig who decided in 2000 it would be more gratifying, if not nearly as financially rewarding, to harness barrels of another liquid from the ground. (This was long before $100-a-barrel oil.) I've met many members of the purple-parachute club, titans who (ostensibly) "retire" to grape farming only to discover life back in the city wasn't so hard.

Winemaking, with all its vagaries - weather, fickle consumers and hardnosed retailers - is a tough business. If anyone had the right, or Bay Street-bred, instinct to hike prices when the weather delivered better quality, I figured it would be Beal.

"No," he said, grateful nonetheless for the call. He and Colas had remarked on the quality of the 2007 Inox as it was being made but weren't sure if the public would notice or feel the same way. Mission accomplished.

Another unoaked white from the same winery and vintage is worth a detour, if higher in price. Peninsula Ridge Al Jepp vineyards Sauvignon Blanc 200 7 ($19.15). This ultracrisp, lean, Sancerre-style white shows restrained lemon, minerals and a smoky, gunflint note on the harmonious finish. Serve it with a late-summer goat-cheese salad.

Now let me turn to some other great whites from Niagara's - and British Columbia's - brilliant 2007 harvest.

From nearby on the peninsula comes Fielding Estate Winery Gewurztraminer 2007 ($16, Fieldingwines.com). Medium-bodied and slightly off-dry, here's a beautifully restrained expression of the aromatic and often explosively fruity gewürztraminer variety. Rounded and smooth, it shows hints of lychee and rosewater and a mildly spicy note of ginger.

Also from Niagara, Peller Estates Private Reserve Pinot Gris 2007 ($16.95) is medium-bodied and silky, with notes of lemon and minerals, finishing crisp, with a satisfyingly bitter, citrus-peel edge.

From the sunny south Okanagan in British Columbia comes the impressive Nk'Mip Cellars Riesling 2007 ($16.99, Nkmipcellars.com). This lusciously plump, modern riesling is exceptionally ripe, with flavours of pear and slightly bitter peach pit supporting a nuance of minerals and framed by vibrant acidity. Completely dry, it represents a compelling middle ground between the opulent, stone-fruit rieslings of Germany and racy lime-powered eruptions of Australia.

See Ya Later Ranch further north in the Okanagan has been a standard bearer for good-value whites.

A good example is See Ya Later Ranch Gewurztraminer 2007 ($16.99, Sylranch.com). Medium-bodied and dry, it unfolds with plump, lychee-like fruit and layers of herbs (it's almost minty), spice and minerals. A good aperitif and great wine for spicy foods.

Consistently one of the best-value sauvignon blancs in the country has been the black-label brand from Jackson-Triggs' Okanagan property.

And the 2007 bolsters that reputation. Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate Propretors' Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2007 ($13.75 in Ontario, JacksonTriggsWinery.com) is light, medium-bodied and a nice, affordable synthesis of the Loire Valley's and New Zealand's iconic styles. Big flavours of grapefruit, citrus peel and herbs get a lift from zesty acidity and hint of minerals on the finish.

Pick of the week

Peninsula Ridge Inox Chardonnay 2007 $12.95 (in Ontario). Here is a white with unadulterated fruit - mostly grapefruit and lime - and knife-sharp acidity, a hallmark of the typically unoaked whites of Chablis in northern Burgundy. As with good Chablis, this wine also oozes a suggestion of mineral or stone.