Or, and hear me out, it's because people don't have as much free money these days and Champagne is getting more expensive? Just throwing that out there.
Also, it could be related to the overall drop in wine sales, which is also correlated with an overall drop in alcohol sales. Younger people both drink less wine as a percentage of their drinking and drink less alcohol altogether.
- Wine consumption has fallen 15% YoY for the last two years... so it seems to be fairing slightly better than regular wine.
- It could also just be champagne isn't as superior to other alternatives now.
- I am a big fan of sparkling wine, and one of my favorite mid-range bottles (of legit champagne) is Veuve. A cheaper option I enjoy is Friexent's Blac de Blancs.
  At least in my area, the prices have stayed pretty static. Whiskies that I enjoy have gone up, some more than others. The drop in alcohol sales definitely makes sense when it comes to this change, but I don't necessarily believe that rising prices of champagne and sparkling wine is entirely at fault here.
- At the very end of the article they mention declining grape yields due to unseasonably warm weather. I guess we need to drink champagne while it still exists.

I'm spending money on defensive measures since we are entering a time of chaos and potential violence.
At very least, criminalty will rise since the police are going to be too busy beating on immigrants, minorities and LGBTQ+ people to do even the minimal law enforcement they usually do.
- The cut to snap benefits is a direct line to increasing crime. Hungry people are more willing to steal food or something to trade to acquire food. Who would have thunk
- What would you define as a “defensive measure” that would realistically be of any benefit and not just theater?
  I ask that as a serious question because most people say “buy a gun” but if anything, wielding that in front of police would make you more likely to be killed. Not saying you should just roll over either, as I don’t think there’s any good answer to that.
  
  Invest time in INFOSEC, secure your entire online presence, every account, sanitize any data out there that can be used to track or blackmail yourself (or your friends/family through you) if possible. Assume any major social media platform retains backups of anything you post (for data retention policies, government or internal, or just for AI shit) and base your future posting habits with that in mind.
  
  Guns can be good for self defense, but not so much against police or military because that will escalate things beyond what any individual is capable of defending against, they're more for a mob or criminals attacking your home. I would also recommend OC spray so that you don't have to go straight to a firearm if violence escalates (plus, your attackers may be debilitated by pepper gel or spray - fyi gel is better for indoors, spray for outdoors).
  Against police, your best defense is probably going to be cameras recording everything (audio included, with offsite backups) and a good lawyer unless they decide they want to kill you, then you're just kinda fucked.
  That's just physical security though, cybersecurity is probably a lot more important: Don't use social media is probably the best advice, but in general be careful of what you say online and use a VPN
  
  How did Afghanistan turn out?

Less to celebrate these days it seems.
At least we have our health, ohh wait.

No one has time or money to drink anymore

You mean, “Champagne sales sink because people don’t have a reason to celebrate”
- An important distinction

Maybe not for celebrations but certainly still a reason to drink... Just wouldn't call Champagne my first choice right now.

Prosecco is a fraction of the cost and tastes nicer.
- Eh, most of the prosecco sold in North America at least is far too sweet and has coarse carbonation. You can get some really good stuff in Italy, though.
  
  We drank so much prosecco on our first trip to Italy. Everyone talked about how much gelato they ate the first time they went to Italy, but we were sitting there poppin bottles on the balcony every night.
  
  I'm in the UK. Looks like you get the dregs over there.
- Tried making mimosas with this and they were gross, way too sweet.
  
  Try different prosecco. There is a wide variety of quality... though then you get up into champagne prices.