Friend drinking sparkling wine beginning to crave champ (9)
I believe the answer is:
masticate
'champ' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'friend drinking sparkling wine beginning to crave' is the wordplay.
'friend' becomes 'mate' (mate is a kind of friend).
'drinking' is an insertion indicator (inserted letters are consumed or drunk).
'sparkling wine' becomes 'asti' (Asti is a type of sparkling wine).
'beginning to' indicates taking the first letters.
The initial letter of 'crave' is 'c'.
'asti'+'c'='astic'
'mate' going around 'astic' is 'MASTICATE'.
(Other definitions for masticate that I've seen before include "Chomp" , "Chew food" , "Process food" , "Crush" , "Torpor" .)