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You are not fooling yourself. That said, there is huge variance within the simple categories of red and white, and I could see some particularly acidic red being mistaken for a white.

One way of subverting expectations is to try orange wine: white wine fermented with skins. Orange wine has tannins and can show some aspects you'd associate with a red, e.g. pepper. Yet it is still more on the citrus rather than berry end of the flavour spectrum.

People have strong tendency to describe things how they think they "should be", especially when someone is looking.

Obviously you can tell red wine from white. But if they color them wrong, you will trust your eyes mood then your taste.

Color definitely sets expectations. But I assume the red-tinted white wine was served at red wine temperature, which would give it a very different set of flavors.

This is how most degustations of flavors experiments in oenology schools are made these days. Dark glasses and red light.