Originally Posted by Jasper2009

IMO there's a very simple reason AC serves sparkling wine as the pre-departure drink: COST

(I believe AC needs to pay taxes on drinks consumed on the ground, so serving the real champagne in the air only makes accounting easier, but it really boils down to the cost of the bottle itself.)

Since AC serves 1-2 bottles pre-departure on every int'l flight, not serving the real champagne saves a lot of money. I'd guess the cost of the "sparking wine" is 1/3 of the Drappier.