Tomato-based sauces are powerful, high acid and are often blended with rich, red meats. Because of the acidity in tomatoes, a relatively tart red with middle-weight body is your best option. As much as this sounds limiting, there are a ton of different grape varieties (and blends) that will happily fill this role. As you add more richness (meat, cream) you can move up in body, but definitely keep the fresh acid! Here are a few examples:
Primitivo (aka Zinfandel), Montepulciano d’Abruzzo, Sangiovese (Chianti, etc), Cannonau (Grenache)