My wife is looking into the same sort of bikes, but a slightly lower price range. The Vita Sport Disc and Allant 7.2 Disc are her two top picks. The components are similar but the Vita Sport has 9 gears and maybe a step down in actual shifter components(she liked the ones on the Allant better). The Allant has mechanical disc brakes and the Vita has hydraulic. The Allant has a chro-mo front fork vs the Vita's alloy front fork. For some reason the Allant felt lighter to her, but she didn't actually weigh them. She might tomorrow and will ride both again at two different shops.

If anyone has any feedback between the two, or any reasons to suggest one over the other, we're all ears!