An apparatus and method are described for detecting and correcting data fetch errors within a processor core. For example, one embodiment of an instruction processing apparatus for detecting and recovering from data fetch errors comprises: at least one processor core having a plurality of instruction processing stages including a data fetch stage and a retirement stage; and error processing logic in communication with the processing stages to perform the operations of: detecting an error associated with data in response to a data fetch operation performed by the data fetch stage; and responsively performing one or more operations to ensure that the error does not corrupt an architectural state of the processor core within the retirement stage.