Gravel Sud Bourgogne

Gravel Sud Bourgogne is the off-road side of the Cyclo Sud Bourgogne weekend, a spring gathering in the Mâconnais run by a Tournus-based association. Its roots go back to 2007, when it ran as La Bourguignonne, and since its revival it has become one of the region's early-season meeting points, bringing road and gravel riders together in the wine village of Viré.

The gravel loops climb into the Massif Sud Bourgogne between the Saône and Grosne valleys, and more than half of their surface is track between the vines, crossing several appellations. The longer loop adds forest climbs and a taste of singletrack. One feed stop is in Chardonnay, the little village widely thought to have given its name to the grape that dominates these slopes, and the organisers make a point of the area's Romanesque heritage and small country villages.

There is a competitive thread for those who want it, since the event counts towards the Gravel'Tour series, but the organisers' own tagline puts vines, terroir and discovery first, and you can just as well follow the waymarked loops at your own pace. Wine is never far from the programme: in past editions road riders have rolled into the Lugny cooperative cellar for their final stop, with a bottle of Mâcon-Villages to take home.