diff --git a/lib/spack/spack/fetch_strategy.py b/lib/spack/spack/fetch_strategy.py
index 0e848652ae6..c463a0e5d85 100644
--- a/lib/spack/spack/fetch_strategy.py
+++ b/lib/spack/spack/fetch_strategy.py
@@ -345,8 +345,7 @@ def __init__(self, **kwargs):
 
     @property
     def git_version(self):
-        git = which('git', required=True)
-        vstring = git('--version', return_output=True).lstrip('git version ')
+        vstring = self.git('--version', return_output=True).lstrip('git version ')
         return Version(vstring)
 
 
@@ -356,6 +355,7 @@ def git(self):
             self._git = which('git', required=True)
         return self._git
 
+
     @_needs_stage
     def fetch(self):
         self.stage.chdir()