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This being Stanley Cup playoff season, you'll perhaps forgive a hockey analogy. Priorat is the Sidney Crosby of wine.

It's not a wine exactly, but a vineyard area of northeast Spain. A more precocious, dazzling, talked-about wine region you won't find anywhere, either.

Virtually unknown 15 years ago, Priorat suddenly shot to prominence on the strength of one man and one wine, Alvaro Palacios and L'Ermita, a grenache-based red that now costs about $1,000 a bottle. I'll bet Pittsburgh Penguins chairman and wine geek Mario Lemieux owns his share of L'Ermita as well as Crosby.

The wine, sometimes called the Château Petrus or Penfolds Grange of Spain, quickly earned raptures from the international press, sparking a gold rush to Priorat's rocky hillsides 100 kilometres from Barcelona. It's been a revival, actually, because Priorat had been one of Spain's hoity-toity wine regions until it was devastated in the late-1800s by the phylloxera root-louse epidemic.

The problem with Priorat today isn't vine disease; it's money. Years ago, I respectfully asked Palacios how he dared charge so much ($700 at the time) for a wine that, unlike the similarly priced Petrus, could not boast a track record of long-term cellaring. His cheerful response: Because he could. Fair enough. L'Ermita is a delicious, elegant and seamless wine that's sure to impress visitors to your wine cellar.

Thanks to l'Ermita's out-of-nowhere success, finding a reasonably affordable red from the Priorat is nigh impossible. But here's one, released a few weeks ago through about 120 Vintages stores in Ontario, Giné Giné 2005 ($20.95, product No. 67843). Made by Buil & Giné, an operation started by a family that returned to Priorat in 1996 after a detour into the grocery business, it's a remarkable value that's still miraculously available in decent quantities. (I'm guessing the screw cap seal is throwing off those pretentious Priorat hunters.)

Though scarcely known here, the winery has already acquired a reputation for fair prices. Wine & Spirits magazine's Value Guide for 2005 ranked Buil & Giné among its 100 best producers for 2004.

Made in a modern gravity-feed facility on vineyards next door to L'Ermita, Giné Giné is a blend of grenache (known as garnacha in Spain) and carignan. Robust and assertive, it's stuffed with juicy dark-fruit flavours and big accents of roasted coffee, vanilla, spice, licorice and a hint of game. Very modern but still quite Spanish. It would be amazing with grilled beef.

That hockey series across the border notwithstanding, white-wine weather has finally settled on many parts of this country, and there is no shortage of excellent domestic offerings to slake the thirst.

Hand it to John Simes, winemaker at Mission Hill Family Estate in British Columbia's Okanagan Valley. His reserve white wines are as impressive as ever. For zesty summer sipping, check out Mission Hill Reserve Sauvignon Blanc 2006 ($19.99, available direct from http://www.missionhillwinery.com; $21.95 in Ontario, No. 057430). It's light-bodied yet round and plump, with good concentration and flavours that hint at gooseberry, grapefruit and lime.

Also very good is Mission Hill Reserve Chardonnay 2005 ($21.99), full-bodied, moderately fleshy and nicely balanced with grilled pineapple and a hint of minerals. The oak dutifully remains in the wings, letting the crisp, fresh fruit take centre stage.

Another pick for summer sipping is Joie Chardonnay Un-Oaked 2007 ($20.40, available at select private wine shops in British Columbia and Calgary, http://www.joie.ca). Here's a fresh release from the great 2007 Canadian harvest. Normally I'm not the world's biggest fan of sweetness in a chardonnay, but this wine pulls it off brilliantly. A smidgeon of residual sugar acts like an exclamation mark for the fresh fruit. Medium full-bodied, it leaps forth with green apple and ripe tropical fruit and a nuance of tinned peach, with lively acidity balancing out the subtle sweetness.

A clean, crisp style is evident in Sumac Ridge Black Sage Vineyard Chardonnay 2006 ($19.99, http://www.sumacridge.com). Though hefty and slightly imposing at 14-per-cent alcohol, it comes across like fresh honeydew that has been giving a subtle dusting of spices. Not heavy at all.

Turning to some decent white selections from this past week's Vintages release in Ontario, I'd recommend Trout Valley Sauvignon Blanc 2006 from New Zealand ($19.95, No. 0060046). It shows the racy-grassy style of the variety, with tingly, white grapefruit and gooseberry on the finish.

Another nice option is Simonnet-Fèbvre Chablis Montmains 2005 ($31.95, No. 0069104), a very decent premier cru from a ripe year. Light, medium-bodied and silky, it comes through with an intriguing and very Chablis-like note of wet stone over crisp, citrus-like fruit.

And the best of several rosés unquestionably is Château d'Aqueria Tavel Rosé 2007 ($20.95, No. 0319368). From southern France, it sports a cherry-red colour and is dry and robust. Close your eyes and you might be tempted to guess it's a red Beaujolais that has been chilled. It's good to pair with chicken or pork, and comes in half-bottles for $11.95.