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 155a539c7..888dc1e98 100755
--- a/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
+++ b/public/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/utils/variantcontext/VariantContext.java
@@ -823,7 +823,8 @@ public class VariantContext implements Feature { // to enable tribble intergrati
 
     private void loadGenotypes() {
         if ( !hasAttribute(UNPARSED_GENOTYPE_MAP_KEY) ) {
-            genotypes = NO_GENOTYPES;
+            if ( genotypes == null )
+                genotypes = NO_GENOTYPES;
             return;
         }