[Grammar] not until / not after

[licinio]

It was not until / after the first bottle of champagne had been emptied that the conversation inexorably drifted to the past.

Is "until" or "after" possible in the above sentence, and if so, is it with the same meaning?

 

[5jj]

You can have 'not until' or 'not until after', with a slight difference in timing, but not 'not after'.