diff --git a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/channelflow/package.py b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/channelflow/package.py
index 80ed36ebd50..f4a01f7548d 100644
--- a/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/channelflow/package.py
+++ b/var/spack/repos/builtin/packages/channelflow/package.py
@@ -69,7 +69,7 @@ def cmake_args(self):
         }
 
         args.append('-DWITH_NETCDF:STRING={0}'.format(
-            netcdf_str[spec.variants['netcdf-c'].value]
+            netcdf_str[spec.variants['netcdf'].value]
         ))
 
         # Set an MPI compiler for parallel builds