9 pours in 2 flights, 8 different wines from 8 different styles/categories. 2 of the pours were from the same magnum, and most of us - including Vic, who knew what it was - thought the second pour was very marginally better than the first. A couple of us went back and forth between "these are the same," and "these are different but related wines." Tom was ultimately the only person to actually call them as the same wine. I thought it likely, but gave the first pour 82 points and the second 83.
All-in-all the table did a pretty good job. We were able to differentiate Ruby/Tawny/White/Pink with the big exception being the Offley Rose Port that no one identified. But in our defense, I don't think it even occurred to anyone that Pink was a possibility, otherwise I'm pretty sure we'd have sussed it out. Most of us also caught the one ringer - a Washington port-style wine made using Portuguese varieties - but we were also thrown off by the 1997 Crasto magnum being a flawed bottle. I was quite certain that the Crasto was a California port-style wine and that it contained Zinfandel. It had a very sour note and was riddled with VA (both things I associate with Zin-based port-style wines). That both helped and hindered identifying the fact that 2 pours came from that flawed magnum, because while it was pretty obvious that the two pours were at the least very similar, it also made it seem like they might be two separate but related ringers.
We weren't so good at differentiating between LBV and VP (possibly due to the lone VP being the flawed magnum), nor between TWAIOA and Colheita in either Tawny or White form. We did okay figuring out relative age, but not great - Vic deliberately picked Ports between 10 and 25 years old so that they'd be as confusing as possible.
The Ports and what I thought they were:
1. 2002 Kopke White Colheita. I had this as either a soft 10 year old or a white.
2. 1997 Crasto VP (flawed). I had this as a CA or WA port-style wine at least partially made from Zinfandel.
3. Krohn 20 Year Old Tawny Port. I had this as an S. Leonardo 20 Year Old Tawny Port. Close enough.
4. 1995 Krohn Colheita. I had this as a 10 year old white.
5. 1997 Crasto VP (flawed) second pour. My note ended with "head-to-head basically identical" compared to #2, but I gave it one more point for being slightly more palatable.
6. Offley Rose Port. My entire note: "Smells purple, like a young VP or LBV. Very soft flavor, minimal tannins. Taste doesn't match nose. Tastes like a very soft older 2nd tier LBV, or maybe just a plain Ruby Port."
7. 2005 Two Mountains Vinho Vermelho (Washington State). I had this as a ringer as did most everyone. It's made from Portuguese grapes, but they just don't taste the same when grown in soil vs schist.
8. 1995 Warre LBV (bottled 1999). I had this as an older LBV or mid-90s SQVP, and thought it was the oldest Port of the tasting. (Close enough - it was tied for oldest.)
9. Kopke 20 Year Old White Port. I literally tasted this before leaving the house as I have a bottle open at home, but still didn't identify it. I thought it was a 20-year old Tawny.
This was a really interesting and fun way to taste Port. It's very challenging to identify a Port when you can't see it!