diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gcc/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gcc/package.py
index 5abb2cb96cc..f220d8f5f3d 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gcc/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/gcc/package.py
@@ -818,7 +818,7 @@ def configure_args(self):
         if self.version >= Version("6"):
             options.append("--with-system-zlib")
 
-        if spec.satisfies("^zstd"):
+        if self.version >= Version("10"):
             options.append("--with-zstd-include={0}".format(spec["zstd"].headers.directories[0]))
             options.append("--with-zstd-lib={0}".format(spec["zstd"].libs.directories[0]))