diff --git a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
index 129ac9ca8..155a539c7 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
@@ -822,8 +822,10 @@ public class VariantContext implements Feature { // to enable tribble intergrati
     // ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
     private void loadGenotypes() {
-        if ( !hasAttribute(UNPARSED_GENOTYPE_MAP_KEY) )
+        if ( !hasAttribute(UNPARSED_GENOTYPE_MAP_KEY) ) {
+            genotypes = NO_GENOTYPES;
             return;
+        }
 
         Object parserObj = getAttribute(UNPARSED_GENOTYPE_PARSER_KEY);
         if ( parserObj == null || !(parserObj instanceof VCFParser) )