Sparkling wine has marked both the beginning and the end of things for so long, that it has become inseparable from the idea of the significant moment itself. It is opened at weddings and at wakes, at promotions and at farewells, at the stroke of midnight and at the quiet table after a funeral, when the right thing to do is raise a glass to someone who is no longer there.
No other drink has achieved quite this range of symbolic function, and the clearest proof of how little the drink itself is responsible for it is that its alcohol-free versions perform the same role without loss.
The ritual survives the ingredient.
That is not something a drink earns quickly. It is something earned over centuries of being chosen, again and again, for the moments that matter most.