diff --git a/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh b/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
index b2c804edb..9fd0d3d8f 100644
--- a/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
+++ b/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
@@ -37,8 +37,11 @@ if [[ ! $DISABLE_VENV_CD -eq 1 ]]; then
     if [ ! $WORKON_CWD ]; then
       WORKON_CWD=1
       # Check if this is a Git repo
-      PROJECT_ROOT=`git rev-parse --show-toplevel 2> /dev/null`
-      if (( $? != 0 )); then
+      PROJECT_ROOT=`pwd`
+      while [[ "$PROJECT_ROOT" != "/" && ! -e "$PROJECT_ROOT/.venv" ]]; do
+        PROJECT_ROOT=`realpath $PROJECT_ROOT/..`
+      done
+      if [[ "$PROJECT_ROOT" == "/" ]]; then
         PROJECT_ROOT="."
       fi
       # Check for virtualenv name override