diff --git a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler.java b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler.java
index 8312c9f023..60c48c733d 100644
--- a/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler.java
+++ b/netty/src/main/java/io/grpc/netty/WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler.java
@@ -85,7 +85,8 @@ final class WriteBufferingAndExceptionHandler extends ChannelDuplexHandler {
   public void exceptionCaught(ChannelHandlerContext ctx, Throwable cause) {
     assert cause != null;
     Throwable previousFailure = failCause;
-    Status status = Utils.statusFromThrowable(cause);
+    Status status = Utils.statusFromThrowable(cause)
+        .augmentDescription("Channel Pipeline: " + ctx.pipeline().names());
     failWrites(status.asRuntimeException());
     // Check to see if the channel is active and this is the first failure.  If a downstream
     // handler triggers an exception in close(), avoid being reentrant.  This is not obviously
diff --git a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientTransportTest.java b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientTransportTest.java
index 332a459c27..75e40bb244 100644
--- a/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientTransportTest.java
+++ b/netty/src/test/java/io/grpc/netty/NettyClientTransportTest.java
@@ -285,7 +285,9 @@ public class NettyClientTransportTest {
       rpc.waitForClose();
       fail("expected exception");
     } catch (ExecutionException ex) {
-      assertSame(failureStatus, ((StatusException) ex.getCause()).getStatus());
+      Status actual = ((StatusException) ex.getCause()).getStatus();
+      assertSame(failureStatus.getCode(), actual.getCode());
+      assertThat(actual.getDescription()).contains(failureStatus.getDescription());
     }
   }
 
@@ -372,7 +374,9 @@ public class NettyClientTransportTest {
       rpc.waitForClose();
       fail("expected exception");
     } catch (ExecutionException ex) {
-      assertSame(failureStatus, ((StatusException) ex.getCause()).getStatus());
+      Status actual = ((StatusException) ex.getCause()).getStatus();
+      assertSame(failureStatus.getCode(), actual.getCode());
+      assertThat(actual.getDescription()).contains(failureStatus.getDescription());
     }
   }