A basic sorbet is a mixture of sugar, water and fruit. It can be flavored with things such as liqueur, wine or even herbs. The tricky thing about sorbets is finding the proper sugar ratio to obtain the best texture and sweetness. The sugar content in fruit will vary from crop to crop and season to season, so it's not simply a matter of using a straight ratio. Too much sugar will result in a soft and syrupy sorbet; whereas, too little will make the mixture hard and grainy. Chefs often use a saccharometer which measures the sugar content of the cold liquid mixture before it is frozen. By obtaining the correct sugar density (or Baume reading), better results can be achieved. If you make sorbet often, a saccharometer is a good thing to have in your kitchen. I do want to say though that buying sorbet is not such a bad thing. Sometimes after cooking a nice meal you want something easy for dessert. This dessert is the perfect example of this - a scoop of all-ready made sorbet made by a quality producer and some quality red wine is all you need. Cheers!