diff --git a/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh b/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
index afdad1bea..e7100db9a 100644
--- a/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
+++ b/plugins/virtualenvwrapper/virtualenvwrapper.plugin.zsh
@@ -8,33 +8,32 @@ for wrapsource in "/usr/local/bin/virtualenvwrapper.sh" "/etc/bash_completion.d/
       # Automatically activate Git projects' virtual environments based on the
       # directory name of the project. Virtual environment name can be overridden
       # by placing a .venv file in the project root with a virtualenv name in it
-      function workon_cwd {
-          # Check that this is a Git repo
-          GIT_DIR=`git rev-parse --git-dir 2> /dev/null`
-          if (( $? == 0 )); then
-              # Find the repo root and check for virtualenv name override
-              GIT_DIR=`readlink -f $GIT_DIR`
-              PROJECT_ROOT=`dirname "$GIT_DIR"`
-              ENV_NAME=`basename "$PROJECT_ROOT"`
-              if [[ -f "$PROJECT_ROOT/.venv" ]]; then
-                  ENV_NAME=`cat "$PROJECT_ROOT/.venv"`
-              fi
-              # Activate the environment only if it is not already active
-              if [[ "$VIRTUAL_ENV" != "$WORKON_HOME/$ENV_NAME" ]]; then
-                  if [[ -e "$WORKON_HOME/$ENV_NAME/bin/activate" ]]; then
-                      workon "$ENV_NAME" && export CD_VIRTUAL_ENV="$ENV_NAME"
-                  fi
-              fi
-          elif [ $CD_VIRTUAL_ENV ]; then
-              # We've just left the repo, deactivate the environment
-              # Note: this only happens if the virtualenv was activated automatically
-              deactivate && unset CD_VIRTUAL_ENV
+      function _workon_cwd {
+        # Check that this is a Git repo and get its root
+        REPO_ROOT=`git_get_root`
+        if [[ -n "$REPO_ROOT" ]]; then
+          ENV_NAME=`basename "$REPO_ROOT"`
+          if [[ -f "$REPO_ROOT/.venv" ]]; then
+            ENV_NAME=`cat "$REPO_ROOT/.venv"`
           fi
+          # Activate the environment only if it is not already active
+          if [[ "$VIRTUAL_ENV" != "$WORKON_HOME/$ENV_NAME" ]]; then
+            if [[ -e "$WORKON_HOME/$ENV_NAME/bin/activate" ]]; then
+              workon "$ENV_NAME" && export CD_VIRTUAL_ENV="$ENV_NAME"
+            fi
+          fi
+        elif [ $CD_VIRTUAL_ENV ]; then
+          # We've just left the repo, deactivate the environment
+          # Note: this only happens if the virtualenv was activated automatically
+          deactivate && unset CD_VIRTUAL_ENV
+        fi
+        unset REPO_ROOT
+        unset ENV_NAME
       }
 
       # New cd function that does the virtualenv magic
       function cd {
-          builtin cd "$@" && workon_cwd
+        builtin cd "$@" && _workon_cwd
       }
     fi
 
@@ -45,3 +44,5 @@ done
 if [ $WRAPPER_FOUND -eq 0 ] ; then
   print "zsh virtualenvwrapper plugin: Couldn't activate virtualenvwrapper. Please run \`pip install virtualenvwrapper\`."
 fi
+
+unset WRAPPER_FOUND