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Background and goals The oxidative stability of white wine strongly influences its sensory quality and shelf life. Although bottle closures have been widely studied, bottleneck geometry is an important but still overlooked factor affecting wine composition and quality.Methods and key findings By combining bottle geometric measurements with chemical characterization after forced aging, this work presents a preliminary study on the effect of bottleneck heterogeneity (n = 200) on white wine oxidation. Dissolved oxygen, free and total sulfur dioxide (SO2), and volatile markers were quantified. Results demonstrated that bottleneck heterogeneity had significant effects on oxygen management and SO2 depletion. Free SO2 decreased by 50 with significant variability among bottle types, suggesting bottleneck profile influences oxygen ingress and antioxidant consumption. Aldehyde and furan concentrations increased in all bottles, with hexanal, trans-2-hexenal, phenylacetaldehyde, and methional exceeding odor thresholds, thereby affecting wine sensory quality. Additionally, hierarchical cluster analysis revealed strong correlations between bottleneck profile indicators and aldehyde accumulation.Conclusions and significance This study demonstrates the effect of bottleneck geometry on oxygen management and SO2 depletion in wine. The evidence presented here indicates that bottleneck geometry is a key contributor to variability in wine aging and shelf life, suggesting that it is a critical and overlooked factor in wine oxidation, composition, and quality. Stricter manufacturing tolerances in wine bottle production that integrate bottleneck measurements into closure performance assessment should be implemented.