As of late, I have found myself incredibly interested in perfecting a red sauce recipe.  While I don't have the recipe in front of me, I know most of what I put in it off the top of my head. I would like to know if anyone has some tasty additions I could try, or substitutions I should make. Really, I am looking for any advice at all that would help me improve the taste of my sauce. Please note that I am going for a "lighter" tasting sauce, if that makes any sense at all.  The ingredients are the following ones, as far as I remember:   3 tbsp Extra Virgin olive oil 3 cloves garlic (mashed) 1/4 cup white onion (chopped) 2 tsp oregano 4 tsp thyme 2 tsp basil 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes 1/4 cup white whine 1 can crushed red tomatoes   ** And possibly some others I can't remember right now.   I would love to hear any of your tips! 
I second @DHayes answer, although what I do is that I generally start with a base of onions, carrots and celery (which you can also precut & mix and keep in the freezer) which you mix with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and you let brown a little bit. At this point you may add the tomatoes, a cup of water, forget about it... and let it cook for a while.  You can add herbs at the end, fresh basil works very well, as does oregano.  Then, depending on the recipe you may add chili, anchovies, garlic (all of which I would add before the tomatoes) etc.  Adding a teaspoon of sugar is also good to counteract the acidity of the tomatoes.  But, in summary, keep it simple. 