diff --git a/builtin-describe.c b/builtin-describe.c
index 2f1e7ba150098dfa85c8ffe009b318c22bedcbbd..c549d362b27c422b92dbcdd3681e22b7523e0f48 100644
--- a/builtin-describe.c
+++ b/builtin-describe.c
@@ -156,7 +156,7 @@ static void display_name(struct commit_name *n)
 {
 	if (n->prio == 2 && !n->tag) {
 		n->tag = lookup_tag(n->sha1);
-		if (!n->tag || !n->tag->tag)
+		if (parse_tag(n->tag) || !n->tag || !n->tag->tag)
 			die("annotated tag %s not available", n->path);
 		if (strcmp(n->tag->tag, n->path))
 			warning("tag '%s' is really '%s' here", n->tag->tag, n->path);